11:49 AM
Thoughts ahead of day two
Rich Beem : “If the Americans truly want this, they will throw everything. If they perform like they did yesterday, they could demoralise Europe. Historically, we don’t like playing in cold conditions so it could be interesting morning.”
Dame Laura Davies on what Europe need to do: “We can’t lose either session. We can’t be more than three points behind going into the singles.” She suggests Europe need to win the first session 3-1.
11:31 AM
Europe’s early hopes lie with Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia
The European ship is at its best with a Spanish mainstay. No partnership has ever scored as many Ryder Cup points as Seve Ballesteros and Jose Olazabal, who were virtually unbeatable through the late 1980s and early 1990s. Has Harrington now found a worthy pair of successors?
Simon Briggs writes about Rahm and Garcia, who go out first for Europe in around 30 minutes’ time. They were brilliant yesterday and yet anything but a win for them both against Koepka and Berger could see Europe staring at defeat.
11:12 AM
No DeChambeau in these early stages…
…but expect him to be in action again a bit later. In case you missed it, or want to watch again, here’s the American’s whopping 417-yard drive on day one.
As Oliver Brown writes, “this was prodigious even by his standards”.
11:04 AM
What’s coming up this afternoon
Pairings for today’s foursomes were announced last night UK time… here they are, with timings:
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1.05pm: Koepka and Berger vs Garcia and Rahm
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1.21pm: Johnson and Morikawa vs Casey and Hatton
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1.37pm: Spieth and Thomas vs Hovland and Wiesberger
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1.53pm: Cantlay and Schauffele vs Westwood and Fitzpatrick
So, one hour to go… it’s still dark in Wisconsin and the crowds are hurrying towards the first tee.
10:59 AM
From lynchpin to liability: McIlroy’s day of trouble
Rory McIlroy lost two matches for Europe on the first day – the first time that has happened to the four-time major winner – and neither got beyond the 15th hole.
Our chief sports writer Oliver Brown, at Whistling Straits, saw it all unfold.
There is no over-dramatising McIlroy’s travails. It was alarming just how scattergun he became. Quite apart from his dreaded two-way miss, the very flaw that his coach Pete Cowen was enlisted to remedy, his short game lacked any of the silkiness of old.
Read the full piece here.
10:46 AM
Europe struggle on day one at the Ryder Cup – report
Rory McIlroy had to watch from the sidelines for the first time in his Ryder Cup career as Europe attempted to overturn a daunting four-point deficit at Whistling Straits.
McIlroy had played 26 straight matches since making his debut at Celtic Manor in 2010, but lost twice on the opening day – alongside Ian Poulter and Shane Lowry – without even reaching the 16th hole.
It was therefore no real surprise to see the four-time major winner left out of the Saturday foursomes, with Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia sent out first again following their victory on Friday.
The Spanish pair were drawn to face Daniel Berger and Brooks Koepka, with Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton up against Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa and rookies Viktor Hovland and Bernd Wiesberger taking on Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in match three.
Lee Westwood and Matt Fitzpatrick, who lost their foursomes match on Friday, were up against Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele in match four.
Speaking about McIlroy after submitting his pairings but before announcing them publicly, Harrington said: “You saw him out there after a tough day, he was out following those matches and supporting his team.
“He is very much a leader amongst his peers and I couldn’t have asked more from him during the year, I couldn’t have asked more from him on Friday.
“Yeah, the golf didn’t go as well as he would have liked, but I’m not second-guessing him for a second in terms of his leadership and what he does for my team.”
Harrington admitted his side were set for a tough weekend and would likely need to slowly chip away at the USA’s four-point advantage.
“You can’t just turn around and try to eat into a lead straight away in one session,” Harrington said. “It would be lovely if it happened, but you can’t think like that. You’ve got to do it slowly, one step at a time.
“We’ve got 20 points to play for and we’ve got to prepare ourselves for hopefully a long battle all the way through. If we are going to get this done, it’s going to be a very tight one.”
US captain Steve Stricker insisted he was taking nothing for granted, saying: “It’s a great start. We are very happy with the start. But my message to the guys is Saturday is a new day.
“Let’s just go out and try to win that first session again in the morning and pretend Friday never happened. Let’s keep our foot down and continue to play the golf that we know we can play.
“We’ve had some things that came up and bit us in the rear in other Ryder Cups, so these guys know that and they are focused on coming out strong again.”
PA