Europe takes commanding 5.5-2.5 lead into second day of Ryder Cup after McIlroy drama

Team Europe holding a 5.5-2.5 advantage after Friday’s opening sessions at Bethpage Black sets a sharp tone for the 45th Ryder Cup, with a morning 3-1 foursomes showing clear dominance and a dramatic 2.5-1.5 fourballs session that carried momentum into the weekend. Rory McIlroy again wore the spotlight, delivering a pair of result-driven performances that included a late, high-energy finish in the afternoon fourballs as Europe wrestled back control from an American side looking to reframe the narrative. It was a day defined by moments that swung the mood, from European precision on the greens to the crowd’s fevered reaction once Presidents’ Day optics and a star-studded gallery abridged the usual rhythm of match play.

In the morning, Europe’s foursomes were a study in planning, execution and nerve. Luke Donald’s team opened with algorithms of compatibility and pressure, and Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick emerged as standout performers, delivering steady ball-striking and timely scrambling. The pairing of Aberg with Fitzpatrick helped puncture what had been a day-long rhythm of American offense, while Donald’s colleagues locked in behind them. On the Americans’ side, there were flashes but also missteps that foreshadowed how the day would unfold. The Morikawa-English duo, deployed by Team USA early on, was singled out by analysts as a suboptimal choice in the data-driven calculus that the European captaincy has long valued. Data Golf’s metrics placed that pairing near the bottom of the field among the 132 options considered for the session, a reminder that captaincy blends sentiment and science in equal measure.

The afternoon fourballs produced a different drama as Europe absorbed and answered waves of American pressure. Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka carried forward the blade-sharp form they showed in the morning, rolling to a 2.5-1.5 session win while Rahm pressed ahead with six birdies and a steady sense of purpose. Rahm’s surge—paired most notably with Tyrrell Hatton in one pairing and with Straka in another—coursed through the American lineup, notably puncturing Scottie Scheffler’s day. Scheffler, who had looked out of rhythm in the morning, again struggled in the afternoon, ultimately playing a central role in a 3&2 loss alongside Cantlay against Rahm and Straka. Meanwhile, McIlroy and Shane Lowry paired in a late afternoon bid that finished all square against Cantlay and Sam Burns, continuing Europe’s pattern of delivering in key moments while weathering the environment of a raucous, pro-American atmosphere.

The day’s standout performances underlined the European depth. Rahm led from the front in each of his sessions, working in tandem with Hatton and Straka to pressure American counterparts. Fitzpatrick, who arrived at Bethpage with a modest previous Ryder Cup record, delivered a masterclass around the greens in the foursomes, culminating with a 12-foot birdie on the 15th that signaled his capacity to swing momentum in crunch time. Aberg also etched his name on the scoresheet, and McIlroy’s afternoon finish provided the crowd with a reminder that he remains a central engine when the format shifts. Europe’s early control, aided by a strong collective effort and the ability to bend but not break against a boisterous home crowd, reinforced Luke Donald’s plan: win the morning sessions, secure a foothold in the afternoon, and leverage the energy of the moment to tilt the balance.

Yet the day also laid bare the consequential choices that will shape the weekend. Bradley’s leadership of Team USA faced measurable scrutiny after the Morikawa-English pairing marked a rare misfit in the data-backed approach many analysts advocate for in match play. DeChambeau and Justin Thomas were deployed early as crowd-pleasers, but the pairing didn’t yield the results hoped, and Scheffler’s day echoed a broader pattern of uneven form from the globe’s top-ranked player in this event. Cantlay, meanwhile, was the US’s most productive performer with 1.5 points but endured a costly miss on the 14th in the final match that could have altered the day’s trajectory. Overall, the Americans’ ballstriking and closing power faced a European defense capable of turning moments into momentum and asserting control at critical junctures.

As Friday closed, Donald offered a succinct assessment of the arc of the day: it was a great start, and his players “grinded to edge the session in the afternoon.” He added that Europe could handle the friction and noise of large crowds, a mark of a team that has built composure in recent years under pressure. The captain cited the team’s rhythm and the capacity to ride the tide of big moments as a major factor in taking the lead heading into Saturday. Bradley, for his part, has already shown a willingness to gamble in the early hours—a trait that can define a captain’s tenure in this unique format but also carry risk if it does not translate into points on the board.

Friday’s results carried notable historical echoes. In each of the last five Ryder Cups, the team that won the first foursomes went on to win by a landslide, and a three-point lead after day one has not been overturned since the United States did it in 1999. Those numbers loom as a reminder that the sheet of paper can be a guide but never a guarantee in this event, where momentum and crowd energy can drive swings that defy the table’s logic. Europe’s 5.5-2.5 lead on the closing bell of Friday is a strong signal, but with 20 points still available through Saturday and Sunday, a long weekend remains on the board for both sides.

The weekend’s schedule will test Europe’s capacity to sustain this level of performance on an away course and against a United States team that is determined to flip the script. The crowd, fired by the presidential presence and by the American team’s own appetite for a comeback, will test any early optimism on the European side. The Ryder Cup, as ever, is defined by the inevitability of momentum shifts, the stubbornness of captaincy decisions, and the capacity of players to convert pressure into points in the match-play theatre that Bethpage provides.

As the players prepare for the second day, all eyes will be on whether Europe can continue to translate its early-season form into sustained success and whether the United States can recalibrate under pressure to prevent a lopsided finish. The next two days promise a continuation of a narrative that has already delivered drama, intensity, and a reminder that in golf’s signature team event, the shadows of leadership and moments of brilliance are never far apart.