The Americans did what they Needed to do on Friday

The Ryder Cup has been quite the haunted house for the Americans in recent history. Much has been made of that history along with a new crop of players having a big hand in this Cup, of which many questions arose. On Friday, those questions were answered.

The Americans were favored coming into Whistling Straits. Even with the Midwestern wind whipping off of Lake Michigan, the red, white, and blue stood tall.

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I thought it was important for the Americans to start off strong, especially on home soil. Europe scored first with Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia beating Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. The US then scored the next 6 points.

Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay really showed me something in the final grouping of the morning session. The two rookies picked apart the vaunted pair of Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter. Today marked the first time that Rory had lost two matches in one day in his Ryder Cup career. That stat defines the first day of action.

The rookies that Steve Stricker has to rely so heavily on, put together a record of 6-0-2. That was the biggest question I had for the American side, with half of the roster being first timers. They answered it emphatically.

DJ was DJ, Tony Finau was white hot, Bryson flexed his muscles, and Scottie Scheffler showed he has what it takes. Steve Stricker did a tremendous job with his pairings on Friday.

The chemistry was there with every group that Stricker sent out there. Scheffler and DeChambeau were having a ton of fun. Schauffele and Johnson ran the show and were so loose in the afternoon. Thomas and Cantlay blazed back late against Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland to grab a half of a point. Justin Thomas has emerged as the emotional leader of the team.

When the dust settled, the Americans built up a 6-2 lead of Europe at the end of day one. Make no mistake, this is far from over. Four points is a big lead after day one, but the Americans need to keep their foot on the gas.

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This European team has seen all this event has to offer. They’re capable of a lot, we’ve seen it before, and if the Americans aren’t careful, we could have a Medinah-type situation on our hands.

I don’t expect that the USA would make it easy on the Europeans. It’s not in the DNA of this team, that’s been made clear after today. They’ve built a nice lead after two sessions, but they have to maintain it and grow it. This thing is far from over, but the Americans will sleep well on Friday night on their big competitive cushion.

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