Europeans Take Charge at Ryder Cup Over Max Homa, Collin Morikawa and the U.S.

The Americans face 6.1 to 1.5 deficit after Day 1 of the three-day event in Rome.

Updated with afternoon results 

A rough start for Cal grads Max Homa and Collin Morikawa and U.S. team at the Ryder Cup in Rome early Friday.

The Europeans took a 4-0 lead in the three-day competition after sweeping the opening foursomes matches for the first time in tournament history.

Things only got worse in the afternoon four-ball matches with the Europeans extending their lead to 6.5 to 1.5 at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club. The five-point margin matches the largest lead after the first day of Ryder Cup play since 2004.

As defending champions, the Americans need to score 14 points to retain the title while the Europeans need 14 1/2 points. Competition resumes Saturday and concludes on Sunday.

Collin Morikawa lifts a shot out of the bunker / Photo by Kyle Terada, USA Today

The U.S. has not won on European soil since 1993, and the hosts took command decisively on Friday morning. The Americans never led for a single hole in any of the first four matches.

Homa, making his Ryder Cup debut, and partner Brian Harmon lost 4 and 3 to the Scandinavian pair of Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg. A former Texas Tech star, Aberg sank birdie putts of 12 feet on No. 6 and 14 feet on No. 9 to go 3 up.

"Obviously, they played really well," Homa said. "We didn't have a ton of opportunities, and when we did, unfortunately we didn't capitalize. I mean, they played really good.”

Morikawa went 3-0-1 at the Ryder Cup two years ago when the U.S. dominated Europe to win 19-9 Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. But the 26-year-old two-time major winner and partner Rickie Fowler lost 2 and 1 to Ireland’s Shane Lowry and Austria’s Sepp Straka.

The European team won three straight holes through No. 9 to go ahead by 4 holes before Morikawa and Fowler made a comeback bid.

Jon Rahm of Spain and Tyrell Hatton of England gave the Europeans a good start, beating the duo of No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns 4 and 3. Scheffler and Burns dropped to 0-3-1 when paired in international play.

In the final morning match, Americans Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele lost 2 and 1 to Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and England’s Tommy Fleetwood.

The Americans could do no better than halve three of the four matches in the afternoon four-ball competition.

Homa and U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark scored only a half-point in their match vs. Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre after Rose closed with a 9-foot birdie putt on No. 18.

It was worse for Morikawa and Xander Schauffele in a 5 and 3 loss to McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick.

Two other American tandems halved their four-ball matches. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth split a point against Hatton and Hovland, after Hovland made a 26-foot birdie putt to gain the tie. Rahm and Nicolai Hojgaard split the point with Scheffler and Brooks Koepka after Rahm made eagles on two of the final three holes.

Hovland, McIlroy and Rahm combined for a 4-0-2 record for the European team Friday.

"Well, they are superstars," European team captain Luke Donald said. "They are studs. They are three of the top four players in the world. You need your superstars firing. You need them playing well. Without that, it's really an uphill battle. They stepped up and did what they needed to do, and I'm so proud of them."

Cover photo of Max Homa chipping out of a bunker by Kyle Terada, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo