American Golf hunk Bryson DeChambeau was the talk of the Ryder Cup on Friday after casually smashing a 417-yard drive.
The United States launched their bid to regain the Ryder Cup with a dominant display in the opening foursomes to take a 3-1 leave over holders Europe at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
Golf hunk Bryson DeChambeau was the talk of the tournament after smashing a 417-yard drive, which was quickly branded “one of the greatest shots in Ryder Cup history”.
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The American star bombed his monster tee shot on the par-5 fifth hole across the water, leaving him just 72 yards shy of the pin in a spectacular display of brute strength.
“That’s not real. That’s unbelievable,” one Sky Sports commentator said on the broadcast.
British media personality Piers Morgan tweeted: “IN-BLOODY-SANE…@b_dechambeau just smashed a drive 417 yards. This is one of the greatest shots in Ryder Cup history – if not THE greatest. Wow.”
DeChambeau wasn’t used by captain Steve Stricker in the morning foursome line-up, but he later opened up the afternoon four-ball pairings with a tee shot that sailed left and nailed a spectator’s ankle.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the spectator hit by the shot was “fine” and received a signed golf ball, while DeChambeau rebounded to place his second shot on the green and finish that opening hole with a birdie.
Meanwhile, Olympic gold medallist Xander Schauffele and newly crowned US PGA Tour FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay roared out of the gate on the way to a 5&3 victory over European veterans Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter.
The Spanish duo of Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia grabbed the only point of the morning for Europe with a 3&1 victory over Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in the first match.
Then followed a surge of red on the scoreboard starting with Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa beating Paul Casey and Viktor Hovland 3&2.
Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger never trailed on the way to a 2&1 victory over Lee Westwood and Matt Fitzpatrick.
Schauffele and Cantlay – both Ryder Cup rookies – lived up to expectations set by their 2019 Presidents Cup performance and recent form with an emphatic victory that looked like ending much sooner when they won the first five holes against McIlroy and Poulter.
“A start like that, I’m really glad we kept our nerve and kept our foot down,” Cantlay said.
McIlroy and Poulter couldn’t make any inroads until winning the 10th and 11th, but Cantlay stuck his second shot within three feet at the 14th for a birdie and a birdie to win the 15th sealed it.
Europe owed its lone point of the morning to the putter of world number one Rahm, who formed another sensational Spanish partnership with Garcia.
Rahm’s outstanding morning on the greens included a 58-foot birdie putt from the fringe to win the fourth hole, along with winning putts of 14, 12 and 15 feet on the front nine.
The outcome was certainly to the taste of tens of thousands of raucous fans at Whistling Straits, where the action got underway barely half an hour after the sun rose over Lake Michigan.
Crowds of about 40,000 each day promised to be overwhelmingly pro-USA thanks to continuing coronavirus travel restrictions.
European captain Padraig Harrington said he and his players were just fine with that.
“We want this atmosphere,” said Harrington, repeating the mantra that a pro-US crowd was better than no crowd – the scenario that threatened before the event was finally postponed from 2020.
US captain Steve Stricker called the atmosphere “unbelievable.” “It’s what we’ve been waiting for,” he said. “Three years since the last Ryder Cup.”
Stricker, a Wisconsin native, said he expected spectators to be loud but respectful to the European team.
There were scatterings of jeers for the Europeans early on, but Spieth offered a dressing-down to one fan at the third hole who he felt had gone too far in heckling the visitors.
Europe are trying to hang on to the Cup they captured in France in 2018 against a US team stacked with nine of the world’s top 11 players.
The Europeans have won nine of the last 12 editions of the biennial match play event, including three of the past six on US soil.
With AFP and the NY Post
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