Late in the afternoon the TV coverage cut to Shane Lowry, swinging his arms at the crowd and fist-slamming the crest on his shirt, like Ian Poulter used to do. All day, Lowry’s cheerleading had been vigorous and full-bodied, like moves from a Jane Fonda workout, or a Bee Gees video. Feeling it. Pumping it. Loving it.
When Lowry’s selection was interrogated and tortured a couple of weeks ago, one of the arguments raised in the Irishman’s defence was the amount of energy and personality and glue he would bring to the team room. Without the capacity to move the scoreboard, though, that was a thin justification. On day one, he brought everything Europe needed: golf game and gumption.
In what was only Lowry’s second Ryder Cup, Luke Donald treated him like a veteran. The opening session is a steep, rocky climb for the rookies, but the captain left more experienced players sitting down and trusted Lowry to be one of his Sherpas.
The chemistry between him and Sepp Straka was obvious. “I’m a bit more fiery than him,” said Lowry after they clinched their point on the 17th. But as they charged into a commanding lead on the front nine the Austrian was infected by Lowry’s exuberance, letting his emotions run wild. For Lowry, no vaccine is available.
His golf wasn’t perfect. He carved a 3 wood off the tee into a stream on the 10th, and slashed his tee shot so violently at the 16th that it airmailed the pond on the right and crash-landed into hock-high grass. At one stage in the round Sky Sports had to apologise for his fruity language after two shots in a row. His good stuff, though, exceeded all of that.
For different reasons, it was an important day for Rory McIlroy too. Before this week, he had lost seven of his last 10 matches in the Ryder Cup; at Whistling Straits, two years ago, he had produced just one point.
Nobody knew who he would be paired with, and when you looked through McIlroy’s list of former partners, there was no comfortable option, like a pair of old slippers. Astonishingly, in six previous Ryder Cups, he had lined up in 20 matches with players who are now plying their trade on the LIV Tour: Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia, Thomas Pieters and Poulter. Two of his other former partners, Andy Sullivan and Thorbjorn Olesen, are nowhere near the team. Lowry was otherwise engaged.
So, Donald put him out with Tommy Fleetwood in the foursomes and Matt Fitzpatrick in the four balls and McIlroy had his most fruitful day at the Ryder Cup since the Saturday at Hazeltine, seven years ago. In the morning, he was the steady hand on the tiller; in the afternoon, he was lounging on deck, sipping a cocktail, while Fitzpatrick played the first six holes in six under par. McIlroy wasn’t behind once all day.
As ever in the Ryder Cup the golf was extraordinary. Everybody’s game is moved by the pressure, one way or another. Jon Rahm chipped in three times. Patrick Cantlay, the number five ranked player in the world, put the ball in the middle of a lake from a perfect lie in the fairway.
[ Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy react to Ryder Cup foursomes clean sweepOpens in new window ]
Xander Schauffele, the number six player in the world, missed three putts from inside four feet. On the PGA Tour he ranked fourth in strokes gained putting last season, but if you drill into the numbers, his weakness is putts from inside four feet. On that statistic he ranked 128th on tour. That is what the Ryder Cup does: it finds the fault line and exposes it.
For the captains, judgment is never suspended until the final shot on Sunday; there is continuous, reflexive, trigger-happy assessment. Anyway, forgive us: so far, Donald is winning hands down. All of his captain’s picks justified his faith on day one. Nicolai Hojgaard was sensational at times in the afternoon, reeling off five birdies in the opening eight holes.
Ludvig Aberg had a scratchy start, but long before the end of his partnership with the majestic Viktor Hovland, the precocious Swede was in the groove.
Zach Johnson, on the other hand, brought the hapless Sam Burns. This is no time to be smug.
