ONLY the sound of Air Force One rumbling overhead could break the beautiful hush which had descended over Bethpage Black.
Just before 11am on the opening morning of this Ryder Cup, the golfers of Europe had completely silenced tens of thousands of pumped-up, patriotic New Yorkers.
Donald Trump could not inspire Bryson DeChambeau or the US team[/caption]
It could have been even better for Luke Donald had Rory McIlroy sunk his putt on the last[/caption]
Tommy Fleetwood enjoyed the perfect day – sealed by Justin Rose on the last hole[/caption]
There was one inspirational leader called Donald out on the course and it was European captain Luke Donald, who led his side to a 5½-2½ first-day lead.
By the time his merry band of visitors had scored thumping victories in each of the first three morning foursomes matches, there was speculation that Donald Trump might not even bother showing up for the afternoon session.
After all, the President is not exactly keen on results that don’t go his way. Would his supporters be storming the clubhouse to demand a recount?
And as Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood led the way with perfect first-day records, Europe poured scorn on the idea that Trump’s visit might provide an afternoon turnaround.
It was not a good day for America’s alpha males – not for Trump himself, nor world No1 Scottie Scheffler or their Buzz Lightyear-style frontman Bryson DeChambeau who both suffered two defeats out of two.
The morning was almost dreamlike – the first time the Europeans had won the opening session of a Ryder Cup on American soil since 2004.
US captain Keegan Bradley must have feared deportation to El Salvador until Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay finally put a red point on the board just as Trump was arriving.
Their two-hole success against Viktor Hovland and Robert MacIntyre – Vik and Bob to their friends – averted a whitewash for the Americans.
But Donald’s men were the silencers here, taking the home crowd out of the equation and shushing those tiresome chants of ‘Yoo-Ess-Ay, You-Ess-Ay!’ before most Americans had even tucked into their breakfasts.
In the afternoon, Rahm and Sepp Straka sentenced Scheffler to his second defeat, this alongside JJ Spaun – leaving the finest player on the planet without a win in his last six Ryder Cup rubbers.
Scheffler is the most dominant force in world golf since Tiger Woods was in his pomp but just like Tiger he is discovering that the Ryder Cup can be a great leveller.
Then Fleetwood and Justin Rose edged a tense clash with DeChambeau and rookie Ben Griffin which went right to the wire – Rose clinching victory with a birdie on the final green.
McIlroy and fellow Irishman Shane Lowry had been roaring and chest-bumping into a two-hole lead against Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns – before Cantlay hit a hot streak and tied it up.
McIlroy made a clutch putt on the 17th to send it down the last level – then missed a glorious chance for another 3-1 session.
Only the Scandinavian duo of Ludvig Aberg and Rasmus Hojgaard totally bombed for Donald – thrashed 6&5 by Thomas and home-state rookie Cameron Young.
The day had started with DeChambeau smoking his opening tee shot and won the first hole alongside Thomas, with raucous cheers ringing across the fairways.
But the noise soon abated, save for pockets of European fans singing ‘is this a library?’
DeChambeau and Thomas would wilt on the back nine in the face of an onslaught from Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, the two beefy drinking partners and foursomes specialists who never knowingly take a backward step.
Yet Rahm and Hatton were only feeding off the momentum from the two European pairings behind them – both of whom were out of sight by the turn.
Scheffler was humiliated by Aberg for a second successive Ryder Cup foursomes match as the Swede and Matt Fitzpatrick inflicted a 5&3 gubbing on Scoddie boy and Russell Henley.
Aberg and Hovland had scored a record 9&7 annihilation of Scheffler and Brooks Koepka in the Saturday foursomes in Rome two years ago.
So now in 26 holes of combat with Aberg over that format, the greatest player on the planet is FOURTEEN down.
After that thorough trouncing, the Fleetwood Mac pairing of McIlroy and Fleetwood were making sweet music on the front nine.
By the turn, McIlroy had holed five birdie putts, as many as the entire American team combined.
They chalked up a 5&4 victory just after Rahm and Hatton had prevailed 4&3 – when DeChambeau’s wild tee shot on the 15th ended up amid the rubbish bins to sum up the entire morning for America’s alpha male.
Englishman Hatton – who swears more often than the Viz character Roger Mellie the Man on the Telly – had the home fans turning the air blue with a long birdie putt on the 12th and an eight-footer on the 13th to send the European duo into clear waters.
Earlier both Rahm and Hatton had been forced into great recovery shots after wild drives, first into deep broccoli and then into the twigs and acorns of a mighty oak.
Scheffler was soon joining the band of losers when Fitzpatrick – who came in with a dismal 1-7 losing record from previous Ryder Cups – showed Sheffield steel to nail a lengthy birdie putt and complete a 5&3 win.
None of the first three matches even reached the 16th tee. It was carnage.
When MacIntyre and Hovland wiped out a three-hole deficit between the 12th tee and 15th green, Bradley’s worst nightmare was looking real.
Yet as the entire crowd converged on that final match, MacIntyre was disturbed by a heckle on the 17th tee – finding a bunker and losing a hole before the Europeans also made a hash of the 18th.
By then, Trump had arrived – but even he couldn’t make American golf great again…
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