Europe has raced into a commanding three-point lead at the Ryder Cup after narrowly winning the Friday afternoon fourball session, building on a dominant performance in the morning foursomes.
With President Donald Trump among the crowd, the Europeans shaded the afternoon session by 2.5-1.5 to build on the 3-1 lead they had established earlier on Friday, with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler again enduring a difficult round on Bethpage Black.
Scheffler and Russell Henley had suffered a damaging 5&3 defeat to Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick in the morning foursomes and the World Number 1 was soundly beaten 3&2 on Friday afternoon alongside J.J. Spaun in a matchup against Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka.
Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose added another point for the Europeans with a narrow victory over Ben Griffin and Bryson DeChambeau, while a comprehensive victory for Cameron Young and Justin Thomas over the Scandinavian pairing of Aberg and Rasmus Hojgaard earned an important point for Team USA.
In the final matchup of the day, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns came back from two holes down to share the spoils with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry to help keep America in the contest.
It was Keegan Bradley’s Team USA who claimed the first point of the afternoon session after Thomas and Young ran riot against Aberg and Hojgaard, who failed to win a single hole in a 6&5 defeat.
Thomas and Young shot an impressive nine birdies between them in 13 holes to seal the biggest win of the tournament so far, winning four of the last five holes.
It did not take long for Europe to respond, however, with Rahm and Straka sealing victory over Scheffler and Spaun in the first matchup of the afternoon shortly afterward.
The European pair had fallen behind on the opening hole but had taken the lead by the third against a faltering US pairing. It was a lead they would never relinquish, with Scheffler and Spaun failing to win a single hole for the remainder of the encounter.
A Rahm birdie on the par-3 eighth extended the lead to two, while another birdie from the Spaniard on the par-4 11th increased the European buffer. Straka sealed victory for the Europeans by draining a mid-range putt on the 16th.
Rose and Fleetwood also recovered from losing a hole early on to gain another point for the Europeans in the second match of the afternoon. The English pairing only won three holes all afternoon, but all three of those crucially came in the final seven holes of the match as they converted a one-hole deficit into a two-hole advantage.
DeChambeau briefly reignited American hopes with a birdie on the 17th to reduce the gap to one, but the Europeans held their nerve on the 18th to win the match 1UP courtesy of a stunning Fleetwood approach.
That meant all attention turned to the final matchup of the evening as the Irish pairing of McIlroy and Lowry went tit-for-tat with Cantlay and Burns.
A pair of McIlroy birdies had sent Europe into a two-hole lead at the turn, but Cantlay stepped up with a pair of birdies midway through the back nine to bring the match back on terms, taking an advantage of a desperately unlucky McIlroy putt rolled all the way around the lip of the hole.
Both teams had chances to move ahead in the final five holes, most notably when Cantlay missed a seemingly routine four-foot putt to win the 14th, but neither team could strike a crucial blow.
Ultimately, the match came down to two near-identical 12-foot putts on the 18th, with Burns sending his putt just right of the hole and McIlroy sending his just to the left.
The result sealed victory for Europe in the afternoon session and leaves the US with a mountain to climb if they are to regain the Ryder Cup after going down to a five-point defeat in Rome two years ago.
