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2018 Ryder Cup Friday Morning Four-Ball Highlights

While many slept, the 2018 Ryder Cup got underway from Le Golf National in Paris, France. The morning four-ball matches teed off in front of jammed packed, raucous grandstands. Each pairing had their sights set on putting early points on the board for their respective teams.

Team Europe jumped out to an early lead, taking control over the front nine in the morning match-ups. A big swing in momentum with highlight after highlight seemed to spark the fire for the Americans. Over the final nine holes Team USA swung the advantage back to the states before the power struggle raged once again in the pinnacle of golf teamwork.

Finau/Koepka def. Rose/Rahm 1-Up

2018 FedEx Cup champion Justin Rose sticks his approach on the opening hole to gain the early 1-up edge for the Europeans.

With the pressure of his first Ryder Cup appearance on his shoulders Tony Finau needed a par at the 5th hole to save a halve of the hole.

No nerves to show from Finau once again with a chip-in eagle at the par-4 6th hole.

Playing in his first Ryder Cup as well, Spain’s Jon Rahm ignited the crowd with a birdie at eight.

The human highlight reel is heating up once again as Rose pitched it up and in with the slow roll to go 2-up over Finau and Koepka.

As Finau found out in his rookie outing, sometimes all you need is a little luck at the Ryder Cup.

Johnson/Fowler def. McIlroy/Olesen 4&2

Not much more Rickie Fowler could do at the par-4 6th hole early on Friday morning.

Fowler helped move momentum back to the Americans with back to back birdies on nine and ten.

Dustin Johnson takes some pressure off of Fowler’s shoulders with a pair of back to back birdies of his own to move their team to 3-up with five holes to play.

Fowler goes long again for another birdie this time to save a halve of the hole.

Thomas/Spieth def. Casey/Hatton 1-Up

Jordan Spieth was dialed in from the opening hole as he nearly holed his approach.

On the move once again Spieth was in sync with his putter early in opening four-ball matches.

From long range Spieth drained another impeccable putt at number five to move 2-up in the match.

As if there was any question, Spieth was in the zone on the front nine, this time from off the green to grab the largest lead of the morning at 3-up.

Spieth wasn’t the only teammate to produce Friday morning as Ryder Cup rookie Justin Thomas provided some highlights of his own with a birdie at the par-4 10th.

After a front nine of struggles, Paul Casey and Tyrell Hatton rallied for four straight birdies to get back to one hole down against Spieth and Thomas.

Correction, Hatton made it five straight birdies for the Europeans to get the match back to all square.

Fleetwood/Molinari def. Woods/Reed 3&1

In a contentious battle from the opening tee, Tommy Fleetwood movesd the needle back to Team Europe with a bullseye on his approach at the par-4 4th.

“Captain America” may have started slow but Patrick Reed heated up around the turn with a birdie on nine and a chip-in at ten to swing the match to 2-up for Team USA.

It was only a matter of time before the 2018 Open Champion, Francesco Molinari made his move as he drilled a birdie putt at the par-4 12th to even things back up.

With Europe officially down 2-0 in the first two matches of the morning Fleetwood tried to spark the comeback in his battle with a clutch birdie at 15.

Fleetwood refuses to lay down with another huge putt and another much needed point at 16.

Two up with two to play, Molinari needed two putts to close out the Americans on the 17th hole but only needed one to earn Europe’s only point of the morning.

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