Rory McIlroy praised the influence of his skipper Luke Donald as Europe swept to an unprecedented foursomes clean sweep and dominated the opening morning of the Ryder Cup.
Partnering Tommy Fleetwood, the Northern Irishman struck the decisive tee shot on the 17th hole to set-up victory over the previously unbeaten American pair of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
Having been destroyed two years ago at Whistling Straights, it was imperative Europe made a fast start at the Marco Simone course in Rome, but nobody could have envisaged such a flawless opening to proceedings.
Speaking immediately after helping his team secure an astonishing 4-0 lead, McIlroy told Sky Sports: ‘It’s been an unbelievable session we switched the format to go foursoemes first because statistically that’s our better session.
‘All week we’ve been talking about making a fast start, playing little three-hole matches in practise, three holes then go again, three holes then go again.
‘It’s something the captain has drilled into us and we were ready to go from the first tee shot as you could see in how everyone played.
‘It was an absolute pleasure to have this man (Tommy Fleetwood) alongside me. He can play with anyone I’m just so happy he’s my partner this week and happy to get a point on the board for Europe.’
The tone had earlier been set by the likes of John Rahm, Tyrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg, while Shane Lowry along with debutant Sepp Straka scored a big win over the star American pairing of Rickie Fowler and Colin Morikawa.
‘When you see the first three matches we are up quite a lot and you’re in the last match, you don’t want to let the side down,’ McIlroy added.
‘We felt like we were in control all day. The 15th was obviously a huge moment in the match when Tommy made a huge putt and Xander missed his.
‘It was a great match against two really tough competitors but we are happy to get another blue point on the board.”
On his stunning tee shot on the 17th, McIlroy said: ‘I have been fortunate enough to hit lot of good shots in my career and to hit a shot like that when I needed to, it gives me a ton of confidence.’
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