Briliant comeback from Europe in opening stanza of Ryder Cup

A FANTASTIC recovery from Europe, despite being up against a boisterous and hostile home crowd, saw the team go from a morning deficit of 4-0 to 5-3 as day one of the Ryder Cup came to a conclusion at Hazeltine.

Rory McIlroy was instrumental in the bounceback and described the team’s mood as buoyant ahead of the second day. His eagle putt on the 16th green was one of many inspiring moments delivered by the Northern Irishman alongside Thomas Pieters.

“As you could probably imagine, the mood in the team room just there was quite buoyant and we definitely feel like there was a shift in momentum this afternoon,” said McIlroy. “Hopefully we can carry that into tomorrow morning.”

“We’re not going down without a fight. It was four-zip after the morning. We’ve pulled it back a good bit and we plan to pull it back even further going into tomorrow.

“It’s a hostile environment that the people out there don’t want you to hole a putt. They don’t want you to hit a good shot. I think when you do hole a putt or hit a good shot, it just makes it that much more satisfying.”

Europe captain Darren Clarke said he was “extremely proud” of his men’s fourball display. “They showed tremendous bravery and heart and desire to go out and play the way they have done this afternoon,” he told press.