Europe lead after superb clean sweep

EUROPE came storming back into the Ryder Cup with a sensational clean-sweep of the afternoon foursomes to take a 5-3 lead into today’s second day.

After the morning fourballs the USA had a 3-1 advantage and seemingly all the momentum as they look to retain the trophy and win on foreign soil for the first time in 25 years.

Europe’s sole win in the first session came from Francesco Molinari and inspired debutant Tommy Fleetwood, who surged past a muted Patrick Reed and Tiger Woods 3&1.

With four-time major winner Rory McIlroy failing to register a single birdie as he and Thorbjorn Olesen were defeated 4&2 by Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, the portents looked ominous for Thomas Bjorn’s Europeans.

But in the alternate shot format the scoreboard turned blue as all four pairings took a fierce grip on their matches – at one point holding a combined advantage of 17 up.

The old partnership of Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose saw off Johnson and Fowler 3&2, while McIlroy and Ian Poulter staged a comeback from two down to beat Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson 4&2.

Sergio Garcia and Alex Noren were seven up after nine holes against veteran Phil Mickelson and rookie Bryson DeChambeau before sealing it 5&4, while Molinari and Fleetwood reunited to put Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth to the sword by the same score.

Not since 1989 had a European team won all four matches in a session, and never before had they done it in a foursomes.