GUIDONIA MONTCELIO, Italy – After a rollicking and record-tying start to this Ryder Cup, the opposing captains were interviewed on the final green, separated by about 10 feet.
Everything about them was different, all the way down to their custom Nikes.
Their postures were different: Luke Donald, confident, hands on his hips; Zach Johnson, humbled, hands stuffed in his pockets.
Their expressions were different: Donald tried like hell to mask a smile; Johnson, his face reddened by the sun and the result, appeared anxious, eying the exit and a precious chance to reset.
Even their surroundings were different: The home team was being serenaded by chants of Eurrrrrooopeeeee! while the American players and support staff and WAGs all shuffled toward the team room.
The biggest difference of all, of course, was flashing on the giant scoreboard behind them.
It’s Europe 6.5, U.S. 1.5 – a Day 1 beatdown that equaled the largest spread in the nearly-century-old history of the event.
“Unbelievable start,” Donald said. “A historic day. But we want it to be a historic week.”
And they appear well on their way.
Two years after suffering a humiliating 10-point loss at Whistling Straits, the Europeans seem eager to return the favor. They swept the opening foursomes session for the first time in their history, when everything worked for Donald, when rookies like Ludvig Aberg and Sepp Straka got off to flying starts, when superstars Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland all rolled to convincing wins. The Americans never led, at any point, in any match.
Just like that, Johnson was forced to call a few audibles.
Johnson’s most questionable captain’s pick, Sam Burns, weighed down world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler in an opening loss and got benched.
Johnson failed to get a return on his data-driven gamble to match Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa together.
And then Johnson sat arguably the team’s most consistent performer, Patrick Cantlay, for the afternoon session, despite being in an early hole.
“We have contingencies,” Johnson said, and that involved going to his bench sooner than perhaps he would have liked. Though scarce on details, Johnson admitted that the team wasn’t feeling 100% healthy, saying only that it was “congestion” and “signs of things that are unfortunate,” and that the illness has run through the team room, from the players to the caddies, sapping their energy.
“The bottom line is there’s been some unforeseen things that we’d have to navigate around, which is really unfortunate in the sense of health,” Johnson said. “It’s not an excuse, because we have depth. But I’ll just say, I’m grateful we have a team doctor.”
Indeed, it wasn’t an excuse, because the Americans were still poised win the afternoon fourballs and inject some life into this cup.
Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth – who were 8-2, all time, in team competition together – had a 2-up lead with five holes to play.
Rookies Max Homa and Wyndham Clark were 2 up with two to play against what was, statistically, the Europeans’ weakest pairing, Justin Rose and Bob MacIntyre.
And then Scheffler and Brooks Koepka shook off a ground-shaking eagle from Jon Rahm to pull ahead, again, with one hole to play.
But match by match, the Europeans staged a rally that tilted the balance of power.
Hovland dripped in a 25-foot birdie putt up and over a ridge to salvage the tie.
Rahm rammed home a 30-footer for eagle – the ball even popping up off the back edge of the lip – to steal a half-point.
And then came Rose, the 43-year-old Englishman who spun a wedge shot to 8 feet and then buried the putt, turning toward his waiting teammates, screaming and pointing at them, as if to say, For you, for you and for you.
“Everyone is in it together,” Rose said. “I made the putt because I had 10 people willing it in behind me. It’s for them as well.”
What could have been a 5-3 margin after the opening day instead, after a trio of clutch shots, matched the most lopsided spread in Ryder Cup history. It was the first time that the Americans didn’t win a single match.
“What we did going down 18 just shows the determination, the grit, the perseverance, the unity of our team,” Donald said. “To win that session is an unbelievable feat by my guys.”
“Those three ties mean a lot,” added Rose, “just for moral victory as much as keeping the score as spread as possible.”
Donald is prepared for the Americans to storm back on Saturday morning, so he sent out the identical group of foursomes teams in their most preferred format. So far, it’s all going according to plan, and he knew it, the picture of calm and poise as he stood on that 18th green.
Johnson has more variables in play – sluggish form, a stout and motivated opponent, some sort of team-room bug – and was trying his damnedest to project confidence, even if two years of planning seemed to come unraveled over the course of 12 hours.
“I believe in these guys,” he said. “This is just the start. I’m proud of the way they’ve gone about their business. I tip my cap to the European team for playing great golf. Our time’s coming.”
His only hope is that it doesn’t arrive too late.