Ryder Cup: US win Friday fourballs to lead Europe after first session

The United States stormed into a 3-1 lead after the morning fourballs as Europe's bid to win back the Ryder Cup got off to a rocky start in Paris.

On a gentle autumn day at a heaving Le Golf National, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler thumped a poor Rory McIlroy and Thorbjorn Olesen 4&2 before Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau came from two down to steal a point from Justin Rose and John Rahm on the 18th.

Paul Casey and Tyrell Hatton were three down after seven holes but fought back to level with Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth with five to play, only to slip away again and lose by one hole.

The solitary European point came courtesy of Francesco Molinari and an inspired Tommy Fleetwood, who surged past a muted Patrick Reed and Tiger Woods 3&1.

Midway through the morning the overall contest had been beautifully poised, Europe and the US both up in one match, the other two all-square.

But within a few holes the US were up in three, and had it not been for Fleetwood and Molinari's comeback, the scoreboard would have replicated that from two years ago at Hazeltine, when the US seized a 4-0 lead that would never be relinquished.

Jim Furyk's men are favourites to retain the trophy, 25 years after the last US victory on foreign soil.

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Europe's final pairing brings down US giants

Reed's superb Ryder Cup record was built on his partnership with Spieth, the two playing together on seven occasions, but his pairing with Woods against Open winner Molinari and the popular Fleetwood brought the largest galleries to this fourth match out.

And it quickly developed into a ding-dong battle, Molinari birdieing the first, Woods the second, Fleetwood the fourth and Reed the seventh.

When both Europeans bogeyed the par-five ninth the US duo were ahead for the first time, Molinari grimacing as his par putt from seven feet lipped out, the bellicose Reed fist-pumping as his pitch on the next bounced up to the flag and in.

But the Italian made amends with a wonderful 20-foot putt on the 11th and kept his nerve over a short one on the next to level it up heading into the final six holes.

Fleetwood blew a glorious chance on 14 as he pushed a short putt to the right but kept his nerve on the 15th with an eight-footer to go one up with three to play.

Better still was to come on 16, a huge putt dropping to trigger a roar from the Englishman, and when Molinari made it three birdies in three holes, one small part of the scoreboard was at last blue.

Rose and Rahm capitulate late

It was the third consecutive Ryder Cup in which Rose had played the opening match, and he began in style by birdieing the first to huge cheers from the packed stands.

But it was the Spaniard Rahm who was relishing his competition debut, rolling in a long putt on the eighth to extend the European advantage to two-up after Finau's chipped-in eagle on the sixth.

Koepka's delicate downhill chip from the fringes on the par-three 11th brought it back to a single hole, only for Rose to conjure up a wonderful chip from a deep hollow in the rough on 12 that tiptoed up to the hole before dropping in.

Rose celebrated with a yell and a chest-bump with his partner, and Koepka responded with a 20-foot birdie putt on the next.

With the scoreboard turning red in the other matches Europe badly needed a full point from this one, and Rahm's anguish when his putt horse-shoed out on the 14th was obvious.

Rose sank a clutch putt on 15 to maintain that slender advantage but then an extraordinary stroke of luck for rookie Finau helped bring the match all-square.

The rookie's approach on the 16th looked to be short and heading for the water, only for his ball to hit the railway sleepers guarding the front of the green, bounce high in the air and come to rest a couple of feet from the home.

Finau gratefully took his chance, and when Rose stuck his approach on 18 into the water, the US had stolen away a critical point.

Johnson and Fowler dominate as McIlroy struggles

Olesen is one of the less celebrated members of the European team but it was the Dane who kept the European pairing afloat on the back nine as McIlroy struggled to find his rhythm.

Successive birdies from Fowler on the ninth and 10th, the second of them a dead-eyed five-foot putt, swung the advantage the Americans' way.

And when Johnson drained a long putt on 12 the Europeans were two down and in need of some McIlroy inspiration.

None came. The undemonstrative Johnson stuck away a five-footer on 13, Fowler too coming to the party with a beautifully judged long-range putt on the 15th.

McIlroy was the only man on the course yet to make a single birdie, and with Johnson finding the heart of the green on the 16th the first point of the day went the US's way 4&2.

As disappointing as the result was how flat McIlroy looked, the four-time major champion expected to be his side's talisman and play in all five sessions yet a long way from his buccaneering best.

Casey comeback spoiled by Spieth

In four previous fourballs matches at the Ryder Cup Casey had never been beaten, but Spieth's touch with the putter had the European pairing in trouble from the start.

The three-time major winner birdied three of the first seven to establish a commanding lead, and that three-shot advantage held at the turn.

Casey then sank a testing seven-footer on the 10th to bring a little hope to the home pairing, and whipped up the crowds still further with an approach to three feet on the 12th followed by another rock-solid putt to drag it back to just one down.

Debutant Hatton then birdied the par-four 13th to complete a three-shot swing in three holes, only for Thomas to parachute a sweet second shot to within three feet on the par-four 15th and wrestle the lead back.

Thomas had a five-footer to win it on 17 but saw it slip across the face of the hole, but Hatton could not sink his birdie putt on 18 and Spieth, relentlessly reliable, knocked in one of his own to seal the point.