Ryder Cup reaction: Europe told to be 'back in saddle', US players hit by illness, Brooks Koepka's swipe at Jon Rahm

Luke Donald, the European captain, savoured a record-equalling five-point lead after the opening day of the 44th Ryder Cup in Rome but urged his players to be “back in the saddle” for Saturday’s double session in Rome.

Bidding to win back the coveted trophy after a 19-9 hammering at Whistling Straits two years ago, Europe thrilled the majority of the people in a crowd of 55,000 by recording a first-ever 4-0 clean sweep in the opening session at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.

On one of the hottest days in the event’s history, the Americans led in three of the afternoon fourballs before heroics from Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Justin Rose on the 18th green left the Americans failing to win a single match in a day for the first time and trailing 6.5-1.5.

“Unbelievable start, historic day, but we want it to be an historic week so the job is certainly not done,” said Donald, who replaced Henrik Stenson as the home captain for the contest after the Swede became a LIV Golf player. “We will all celebrate an amazing day, but we’ll be back with the goal of trying to win tomorrow morning’s session. We’ll be getting our guys focused to be back in the saddle, so to speak. We’ll enjoy the last hour [of play] and the celebration, but once I’m back at the hotel we’ll have a team meeting and we’ll be back to business.”

Luke Donald, captain of Team Europe speaks in a press conference following the Friday afternoon fourball matches in the Ryder Cup in Rome. Picture: Jamie Squire/Getty Images.

Meanwhile, US captain Zach Johnson revealed some of his players had been under the weather as they suffered a disappointing start in their bid to land a first win on European soil in 30 years.

“I would say that we’d love to have everything drawn out way ahead of time, but there’s certain things you cannot control and we are trying to control the controllables in our team room, and I’ll leave it at that,” said the 2015 Open champion. “There’s been some unforeseen things that we’ve had to navigate around, which is really unfortunate, in the sense of health. It’s not an excuse because we have depth but I’ll just say I’m grateful we have a team doctor.

“It’s kind of passed around a little bit, caddies, players. It is what it is. But it’s nothing more than that. Guys are fighting and playing regardless. We have got some congestion and some just signs of things that are unfortunate. It’s one of those where sometimes the energy is probably a little low, but the ability and desire to go out and play is still there. It has spread through my team.”

On a controversial note, five-time major winner Brooks Koepka took a verbal swipe at Rahm after the Spaniard capped a brilliant personal performance by rolling in a 30-footer for an eagle at the last. “I want to hit a board and pout just like Jon Rahm did,” said Koepka of Rahm’s putt hitting the back of the hole and jumping up before dropping. “But, you know, it is what it is. Act like a child. But we're adults. We move on.”

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