McIlroy struggles on opening morning as United States draw first blood

The United States drew first blood in the 42nd Ryder Cup as a rollercoaster opening session headed for a thrilling conclusion in Paris.

Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler eased to a 4&2 victory over an out-of-sorts Rory McIlroy and Thorbjorn Olesen at Le Golf National, former world number one McIlroy remarkably the only player in the opening session not to make a single birdie.

But the other three fourball matches were all square on the closing stretch as Europe captain Thomas Bjorn anxiously waited to see if his gamble of playing four of his five rookies would pay off.

Justin Rose and Jon Rahm twice enjoyed a two-shot lead over Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau, but were pegged back to all square when Finau’s water-bound tee-shot on the 16th hit a wooden sleeper surrounding the hazard and bounced up to within three feet of the hole.

Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton had looked destined for defeat when Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas raced into a three-hole lead thanks to five birdies in the first seven holes from Spieth, but the English pair fought back superbly to get back on level terms after 13 holes.

And Open champion Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood had also recovered from two down to Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed to get back to all square with five to play.