FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Rory McIlroy had the bounce.
He’s small in stature but he’s still an athlete and when he’s dialled in — like, really dialled — he walks with some bravado. Chest out and moving like his shoes have springs instead of spikes.
McIlroy was always going to be a leader of men this week, and Friday he proved his worth in spades, earning 1.5 out of a possible two points and helping Europe to a 5.5-2.5 lead after the opening day of the Ryder Cup.
The highlight at Bethpage Black — and the classic McIlroy output — came on the seventh hole in his four-ball match alongside best mate Shane Lowry. A long putt found the bottom of the cup and McIlroy let out a primal “Come on!” — a sound nearly unsurpassed in golfing circles.
With the win, McIlroy is 6-1-1 over his last eight Ryder Cup matches (dating back to Sunday in 2021). It’s been far-and-away the best stretch of his Ryder Cup career, as he had lost five matches in a row prior to this run between 2018-2021. McIlroy and Lowry could have squeaked out a full point in the final match of Friday if it wasn’t for Patrick Cantlay living up to his ‘Patty Ice’ nickname — he made three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the back nine to bring the match into a tie late.
McIlroy and Lowry went 1-down early after McIlroy missed a seven-footer for birdie on the first but they won three of the next six holes and held on tight after the furious comeback by Cantlay.
This is McIlroy’s eighth Ryder Cup, the most on this year’s European squad, and he was, of course, chuffed with his team’s effort through the opening day.
“We got a half a point. Obviously right now, disappointed I didn’t hole out for a full point,” McIlroy said. “(But) we have come out of the gates really strong like we wanted to.”
Europe won the first three matches in the foursomes session in the morning — the first time Europe had won the first three opening matches on American soil in the history of the Ryder Cup. McIlroy, alongside Tommy Fleetwood, dominated Harris English and Collin Morikawa 5 and 4. That duo is now 3-0 in foursomes.
“I think we talk about fast starts a lot,” Fleetwood said. “(Captain Luke Donald) has always drilled that into us since being captain, and that’s what you want to do. That’s the ideal.”
Over the last two Ryder Cup competitions, Europe now holds a 10-2 advantage in foursomes play, and with the winning results being 4 and 3, 5 and 3, and 5 and 4, Friday marked the first time a team has won three matches by at least four holes in the opening session of a Ryder Cup since 1951.
“He’s one of the best players in the world,” McIlroy said of Fleetwood. “And to know that I have him by my side, it frees me up. I can play with ultimate trust and ultimate freedom, and you know, you saw a little bit of that today.”
The victory came despite the fact that the American fans were awfully vocal at McIlroy, briefly chanting “(Expletive) you, Rory” while he was shown on the video screen warming up Friday morning. There was also a moment late Friday where it appeared McIlroy made a derogatory hand gesture to some of the New York crowd.
The Americans needed a big afternoon and had President Donald Trump visit to try to light a fire. Trump walked out of the players’ tunnel alongside Bryson DeChambeau and led the crowd in chants of U-S-A, while also shaking the hands of most of the American squad. It did nothing for the opening match, as Scottie Scheffler fell to 0-2 on the day — becoming just the third played ranked No. 1 in the world since the inception of the world rankings to lose twice on the first day of the Ryder Cup — losing alongside J.J. Spaun.
DeChambeau, paired with Ben Griffin, fell to Fleetwood and Justin Rose as the Europeans won three of their final seven holes. New Yorker Cameron Young played tremendous in his Ryder Cup debut alongside Justin Thomas to win the third match and put some red on the board — before Lowry and McIlroy played in the anchor.
A positive, certainly, to get some American points late. Tough, however, to see your two top dogs in Scheffler and DeChambeau go a combined 0-4.
With McIlroy leading the way, Europe could be bouncing its way to making some history by winning a Ryder Cup on the road — the thing McIlroy called one of the most impressive accomplishments in all of golf.
With Europe getting two points from Rahm, Fleetwood, and of course, the 1.5 from McIlroy, they’ve gotten off to as ideal a start as possible.
“I don’t think Jon had lost the (team) format since Paris. He’s an incredible leader for us. Rory is slightly more vocal in the team room but again, Rory has talked about what the Ryder Cup means and the disappointments we saw in Wisconsin (in 2021) and how much he relishes Ryder Cup and the opportunity to be a part of them and hopefully be on winning teams,” Luke Donald said. “He’s made it quite clear that one of his big goals is to win an away Ryder Cup and he played fantastic today.”
History, too, is on the side of the Europeans.
Europe has won each of the last six Ryder Cups where they have had the lead after the first day.
“It’s a great day for Europe,” McIlroy said.
For him, too.
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