ROME — In the end, the feature match of the morning foursome session at the Ryder Cup had become competitive after 14 holes, but the United States then managed to mess that up on the next hole.
Jupiter residents and close friends Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele had a chance to square their match with Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood on the 15th hole at Marco Simone Golf Club on Friday morning. But Fleetwood drained 20-foot putt for par and Schauffele followed by missing a 5-footer, giving the Europeans the hole. Cantlay put Shauffele in that spot by rolling a birdie putt past the pin.
Instead of being tied, the Europeans once again were 2 up. They clinched the match – and the morning sweep for Europe – on No. 17, putting the US in a deep hole as it attempts to snap a 30-year Ryder Cup drought on European soil.
“All week, all we’ve been talking about is getting off to fast starts,” McIlroy said. “Playing three-hole matches in practice, three holes, go again, three holes, go again, something that (captain Luke Donald) drilled into us. We were ready to go from the first tee shot as obviously as you can see in how everyone played.”
How fast was it? The US never led in any of the four matches in the fourball format. In fact, two were 4&3 blowouts with Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton over Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns and Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg over Max Homa and Brian Harman.
Jupiter’s Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka defeated Jupiter’s Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa, 2&1.
Schauffele and Cantlay were 5-0 paired in foursomes format.
“Amazing to sweep a session,” McIlroy said. “I can’t remember the last time Europe has done that. We can’t get complacent at all. This is an unbelievably long American Team. So we are not taking anything for granted here. It’s a great start but we need to keep our foot on the pedal and keep winning points.”
The clincher on No. 17 was McIlroy’s tee shot that came within 3 feet for an easy birdie. But it was Fleetwood’s putt that demoralized the Americans.
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“Waiting for a moment like that all today to be honest,” Fleetwood said after the match. “Especially the start of the back nine where we were playing so well, I felt like I had two or three chances that I let go by.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: McIlroy, Fleetwood anchor Europe’s 4-0 start over US in Ryder Cup
