Ryder Cup: Tidal wave of European blue leaves USA wanting to get the hell out of Rome

Every leaderboard beamed European blue across Marco Simone Golf Club, every ampitheatre carved around the greens rocked to the beat of the drum being thundered by Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Tyrell Hatton and Rory McIlroy.

Europe’s Ryder Cup teams have had some damn good days down the years; Sunday at Medinah, Saturday at the K Club, Monday at Celtic Manor, but none as dominant as Friday at Marco Simone.

A whitewash in the morning, a test of character passed in the afternoon.

A five-point lead means every one of the 12-man European team has played and already contributed half a point.

McIlroy – in tears at Whistling Straits two years ago because he felt he had let his team down – has two of them.

He was in the anchor match with Tommy Fleetwood in the morning that was bound for the wire until he produced a stunning tee shot to two feet on the par-three 17th to end the contest with the USA’s hitherto invincible partnership of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay and complete a first ever 4-0 first-session win by a European team.

Then he was last out again but first one to celebrate as Sheffield’s own Matt Fitzpatrick burst free of his unwanted record of no points in two Ryder Cups with a birdie blitz on the front nine that set up a comfortable 5&3 win over Shauffele and Collin Morikawa.

Captain Luke Donald’s decision to start with foursomes for the first time since 1993, the last US victory on European soil, paid handsome dividends as his side swept the opening session.

Roared on by a partisan crowd, the home side never trailed at any point in all four matches and their opponents won just 10 holes all morning.

World No 1 Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns accounted for only one of those holes as they were beaten 4&3 by Rahm and Hatton, with Hovland and rookie Ludvig Aberg despatching Open champion Brian Harman and Max Homa by the same score.

Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka maintained the momentum with a 2&1 win over Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa before McIlroy and Fleetwood hung on.

Even after Fitzpatrick and McIlroy steered Europe to a fifth win of the day in the bottom foursomes, there still looked a slim chance Zach Johnson’s USA could sneak out of the session at 2-2, or even 3-1, but Europe had other ideas.

First Hovland holed from 20 feet on the 18th to ensure he and Hatton halved their match with Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, the star American duo having been surprisingly left out of the foursomes.

And then Rahm took centre stage. The Masters champion chipped in for an eagle on the 16th to get back on level terms before Scheffler – partnering five-time major winner Brooks Koepka – won the 17th with a birdie after almost holing his tee shot.

Scheffler and Koepka then both had birdie putts from close range on the par-five 18th, only for Rahm to hole from 33 feet for eagle, his ball slamming into the back of the hole and into the air before dropping into the cup.

“There was definitely a bit of Seve magic on that one,” Rahm said in reference to the late Seve Ballesteros, who has a space dedicated to him in the European team’s dressing room.

“He definitely pulled that one towards the hole.”

Homa and US Open champion Wyndham Clark looked set to claim a first win for the visitors when they won the 16th to go two up on Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre, but Rose’s par was enough to win the 17th and the Englishman then birdied the last to cap a stunning finish.

Asked where that putt ranks in his career, the former US Open champion and Olympic gold medallist said: “Top, top, top.

“A lot of putts have meant a lot to me. We don’t know the significance of the putt yet but the last putt of the day, all of your team are behind you, the stage was set.

“Just to enjoy the amphitheatre was incredible, and to knock one in, I kind of let it rip (with the celebration). It was fun.”

It’s hard to believe it was only two years ago that Europe were on the receiving end of a record defeat at Whistling Straits, and that the United States looked finally to have found the passion required and the winning formula.

Twenty-four months on it’s looking like the same old story on European soil – blue on the leaderboard, fist pumps from the home players and chants of ‘ole ole ole’ coming from the stands.

It is the Americans who look lost, and quite frankly, like they want to get the first flight out of Italy.

That the majority of them hadn’t played for nine months appears a bonkers lack of preparation.

That Koepka is spitting his dummy out at Rahm is hardly surprising.

That captain Johnson has hinted at ill-health in his team sounds like an excuse.

The men in red are being drowned out by a sea of blue. Long may it continue.