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Team USA laid an egg in the opening session of the 2025 Ryder Cup, losing 3-1 in the alternate shot format, and giving Team Europe a massive wave of confidence moving forward.
But did the Americans actually play as poorly as the result would seem to indicate? As it turns out, it was actually far worse than the 3-1 result showed.
Session 1 SG:
– Euros have 7 of the top 8 total SG; Hovland only one losing.
– Fitz leads the way, gaining 4.2 strokes on the field (great iron play and putting).
– The Euros are putting really well—gaining over 10 strokes on the US.
– Bryson is the only American gaining strokes. pic.twitter.com/MIbNfSrAWx— data golf (@DataGolf) September 26, 2025
Justin Thomas’ Awful Putting Highlights Brutal Start To Ryder Cup For Team USA
A breakdown of the session by Data Golf showed that of the 16 players on the course at Bethpage Black on Friday morning, seven of the top eight players in strokes gained were Europeans.
The only player in the bottom half, Viktor Hovland, was part of the lone losing team for the Euros alongside Robert MacIntyre, who lost to Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, 2 down.
To exemplify how poorly things went for the Americans on Friday morning, Matthew Fitzpatrick, who entered with a 1-7 career record in the Ryder Cup, was the best player on the course for either team.
Fitzpatrick gained more than four strokes on the field en route to he and teammate Ludvig Aberg completing a 5 & 3 mugging of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Justin Thomas was shockingly bad for Team USA. The two-time PGA Champion, who is 7-4-2 in his three previous Ryder Cup appearances, lost a total of 2.77 strokes in just 15 holes played. An astonishing 2.36 of those strokes came on the green.
Unsurprisingly, Thomas and Bryson Dechambeau were boatraced by the European team of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton.
In total, European players combined to be more than 15 total strokes gained better than Team USA. The Ryder Cup is a long event. It is entirely possible that there are plenty of twists and turns to come. But for the time being, the U.S. is getting its teeth kicked in on home soil.