The 2018 Ryder Cup got underway in spectacular fashion at Le Golf National outside Paris on Friday morning, with Team USA claiming a 3-1 advantage after the opening fourballs session. Jordan Spieth was the standout performer of the morning, while a stunning late collapse from Justin Rose handed Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau a match that Europe had looked set to win. The one point Europe salvaged came courtesy of Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari, who defeated Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed in the day's most compelling contest.
For those who had neither the alarm clock nor the stamina to be watching golf before dawn, the atmosphere at Le Golf National was something to behold from the very first moments. The European crowd delivered a thunderous roar at the opening tee, and that energy never really let up across four absorbing matches. It is the kind of electric environment that separates the Ryder Cup from any other event in golf - a team format that transforms usually reserved fairways into something closer to a football terrace. Sports fans who chase that kind of high-stakes team drama across disciplines - whether it is the Ryder Cup, a knockout cricket tie, or even netball betting markets during a tightly contested international series - will recognise the specific tension that comes when individual talent is filtered through collective purpose. At Le Golf National on Friday morning, that tension was present from the very first swing.
Tiger Woods drew immediate attention on the first tee, producing a trademark club twirl after his opening drive that sent Golf Twitter into predictable delirium. Woods then went for the par-five fourth in two, generating a helicopter follow-through that had commentators noting, not unkindly, that his surgeon may have been covering his eyes somewhere. He recovered with a sharp chip to set up birdie, but the morning would ultimately belong to his opponents. Fleetwood was magnificent alongside Molinari, holing a series of critical putts as the pair wore down Woods and Reed to claim a result that had looked unlikely at various points. Fleetwood, in particular, produced the kind of clutch putting that this format demands.
Spieth Sets the Standard, Then Europe Fights Back
Jordan Spieth was, for large stretches of the morning, operating in a category of his own. Partnered with Justin Thomas, he nearly holed his first approach shot of the day and proceeded to make birdies at a rate that had observers reaching for comparisons. Five under through seven holes at one stage, and three up on his own in a match where his opponents were far from disgraced - it was a performance that underlined why Spieth has consistently excelled in the team environment. Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton clawed their way back into that contest on the back nine, levelling the match before Spieth and Thomas ultimately closed them out on the 18th. USA's point, but Europe made them earn every last inch of it.
Jon Rahm was Europe's other source of genuine menace, feeding off the noise of a home crowd that clearly had no interest in letting the Americans settle. Paired with Justin Rose, Rahm played with the kind of controlled aggression that the Ryder Cup rewards. The duo moved two up in their match against Koepka and Finau and looked well placed heading into the closing holes - until Rose, going for an ambitious pin on the 18th approach, found the water. It was a gut-punch moment for Europe, turning a likely halved point into a full point conceded. Koepka and Finau had never led the match until that final hole.
DJ and Fowler Cruise, Rory's Misfire Raises Questions
The clearest result of the morning came from Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, who dispatched Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter 4&3 in what was a resounding win for the visitors. Johnson, the world number one, was dominant when it mattered, and Fowler contributed moments of brilliance including a long-range putt that briefly brought the house down - though even then, Golf Channel's coverage was apparently too busy running advertisements to show it live. The television coverage drew sustained and sharp criticism throughout the morning, with viewers and fellow professionals alike pointing out that the world number one, Dustin Johnson, went entirely unseen on screen for a forty-minute window during prime action. When only four matches are being played simultaneously, that is difficult to justify.
McIlroy's morning was quietly alarming for European captain Thomas Bjørn. The Northern Irishman failed to make a single birdie in sixteen holes - a statistic almost impossible to imagine from a player of his calibre. Debate broke out immediately over whether Bjørn should rest McIlroy for the afternoon foursomes, a call that would have seemed unthinkable before the week began but which the numbers, bluntly, seemed to support.
The Afternoon Beckons With USA Firmly in the Driver's Seat
The final scorecard from the morning fourballs reads USA 3, Europe 1. It is a position of meaningful advantage, though experience of Ryder Cups past suggests it is far from insurmountable for a European side playing at home. The crowd at Le Golf National has already demonstrated it will be a factor in its own right - backing its team with ferocious noise, booing Tony Finau before a short putt in scenes that raised eyebrows even among partisan observers, and shushing the Americans at every available opportunity. Justin Rose, at one point, actually shushed his own crowd after striping a drive down the middle of the 18th fairway - a piece of theatre that summed up the chaotic, wonderful mood of the morning.
What the afternoon foursomes bring will depend heavily on selection decisions from both captains. For Jim Furyk, the question is simply whether to trust the pairings that delivered - Spieth and Thomas in particular look a dangerous unit. For Bjørn, the harder conversation involves McIlroy, and whether a player of his standing needs to be protected from himself for a session before being redeployed with form restored. The Ryder Cup rarely follows a script. On this evidence, Friday afternoon will be no different.
