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Ryder Cup: USA lead Europe 5½-1½ in dominant day one display – live!

On to the par-five 2nd, and Europe again make a mistake off the tee. Rahm’s drive nestles into the semi-rough down the right, and it won’t be possible for Garcia to make the green in two. No such error from Spieth, who batters down the middle. Back on the first tee, it’s Paul Casey and Viktor Hovland’s turn to smile nervously as the crowd give them pelters. They throw an arm over each other’s shoulder for support. Then a lovely moment as Casey takes a couple of practice swings. The crowd soundtrack them with a few loud woahs ... so he teases them by stalling theatrically on the downstroke. Much laughter. He then creams one down the middle ... while opponent Collin Morikawa leaves his partner Dustin Johnson in a tight spot, in tangled rough down the left.

Sergio rescues the situation! He very nearly trundles in his chip, leaving Rahm with a three-footer that he’ll convert. The delicate brilliance of Garcia’s wedge rattles JT’s nerves, and the 2017 PGA champion shoves a nervous six-footer wide right. Big chance to go one up early doors spurned by the hosts.

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Harry Potter actor Tom Felton collapses during Ryder Cup celebrity match

  • Felton was taken to hospital after ‘medical incident’
  • Actor, 34, had been playing for Europe in celebrity tournament

The actor Tom Felton was carried off a Wisconsin golf course on Thursday after appearing to collapse during a celebrity tournament ahead of the Ryder Cup.

Felton, who is best known for his role as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film franchise, suffered an apparent medical emergency shortly after the conclusion of his match at Whistling Straits, which is hosting the Europe v United States golf showdown over the weekend.

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Ryder Cup: the format, course and omens at Whistling Straits

The US have one of the strongest teams ever seen but the course layout offers home comforts for Europe’s underdogs

English businessman and golf promoter Samuel Ryder devised the biennial matchplay contest in 1927. Originally played between Great Britain and the United States, players from continental Europe joined Irish golfers, who had always competed in the event, in 1979. Since that date Europe have won 11 of the 20 matches played, the US eight with one tied.

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Ryder Cup memories, the greatness of Jimmy Greaves and brawling boxers

This week’s roundup also features a perilous reaction to a run-out, animals on the pitch and road race rain hazards

1) The Ryder Cup starts on Friday after a three-year pandemic-induced hiatus. Europe won impressively last time at Le Golf National, highlights including a Friday foursomes clean sweep. Here’s Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose leading the way, and Europe’s winning moment on the Sunday, as Francesco Molinari beat Phil Mickelson. The USA were rampant, however, when they last hosted, in 2016, and Ryan Moore clinched victory. The competition has often traded on a bit of spice, of course, so here’s a slice of the Battle of Brookline in 1999, when emotions ran high on both sides of the rope. Pressure is another Ryder Cup ingredient of course, so here’s a compilation of 10 memorable pressure putts. The first time Europe competed as a whole, came in 1979, losing 11-17. It all began more than half a century earlier, with only a Great Britain team competing, and here’s some Pathé News footage of that early action.

2) English football lost one of its greats last weekend, with the death of Jimmy Greaves at the age of 81. Let’s savour his finishing genius with some of his best Tottenham goals and here he is doing the business for Chelsea. He adorned West Ham’s front line too, scoring a couple in this thrashing of Manchester City. Here’s a 1969 BBC documentary about the striker, when he was still at Tottenham. He became a hugely popular figure in broadcasting after his playing career ended, of course, be it larking around with Ian St John on Saint and Greavesie or letting rip about television repeats or weather forecasts.

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