Jon RAHM (ESP) reacts to holing putt at 14th par 3 during Morning Foursomes session Ryder Cup Matches 2025,Bethpage Black,Farmington,Ny, USA. © Matthew Harris Golf Collection Credit: Matthew Harris / Golf Picture Agency Photo: Matthew Harris
Europe have dropped only two points to extend their ruthless demolition over the home team 11-1/2 to 4-1/2 on the second day of the Ryder Cup, as US captain Keegan Bradley was left searching for answers at Bethpage Black.
The visitors were 2-1/2 points away from retaining their title, after going 3-1 in the morning foursomes and 3-1 in afternoon fourballs in front of an increasingly loud partisan crowd.
They were only the second team under the current 28-point system to win each of the first four sessions at one Ryder Cup, since the 2006 European team, and the first to lead by more than 11 points heading into singles.
"I didn't really imagine this," captain Luke Donald said. "The job is never done until it's done, so I'm not going to sit here and be complacent."
Hoping to avenge their dreadful 2023 defeat in Rome, the United States were instead left clinging to only shreds of hope, as they would need 10 points from Sunday's (US Time) 12 singles matches to win.
"I'm seeing what looks like to be historical putting," Bradley said. "They're making everything.
"They're a tough team to beat."
Hard-hitting fan favourite Bryson DeChambeau tried to light a spark for the home team, as he teed off first for the Americans and secured a point, alongside Cameron Young, in the first match of the day, but nearly everything went Europe's way from there, as the visitors won the remainder of the morning foursomes and kept the momentum going in the afternoon.
English duo Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose opened the scoring for Europe in the afternoon fourballs, as they put on a putting clinic to beat DeChambeau and top-ranked Scottie Scheffler 3&2.
The match fell into conflict briefly, as the two sides got into a heated exchange, after Rose directed DeChambeau's caddie off the 15th green, and tensions between fans and players escalated across the pastoral venue.
With the defeat, Scheffler became the first American to lose a match in each of the first four sessions of a Ryder Cup, a surprise collapse, after a terrific year in which he claimed six titles, including two Majors.
In his eighth Ryder Cup, Rory McIlroy, the most experienced golfer on either side, seemed to thrive off the US fans' ire, as he and Ireland's Shane Lowry put in five straight birdies to finish 2UP on Justin Thomas and Cameron Young.
Twice Major winner Xander Schauffele and rookie JJ Spaun barely cracked a smile, as they birdied the final two holes to get the demoralised US a point in the day's penultimate match, finishing 1UP on Spain's Jon Rahm and Austrian Sepp Straka.
Tyrrell Hatton, standing in for injured Norwegian Viktor Hovland, won the final match of the day with a birdie putt on the 18th hole, as he and Matt Fitzpatrick finished 1UP on Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay.
The home team historically has a big advantage in the bi-ennial matchplay competition, but the holders got the hot start to lead 5-1/2 to 2-1/2 on Friday (US Time), spoiling US President Donald Trump's visit to the competition.
Asked how he would motivate his team for Sunday (US Time), Bradley invoked his beloved New England Patriots, who overcame a 28-3 deficit against Atlanta Falcons for the biggest Super Bowl comeback in history in 2017.
"I was at that Super Bowl," he said. "I watched it.
"What a cool thing to have witnessed live in person."
- Reuters
