Team USA races to early 3-1 lead after morning session at Ryder Cup

Led by the dominant team of Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, Team USA raced out to a 3-1 lead after the Friday morning fourball matches at the 42nd Ryder Cup in France.

The first three American teams off the tee emerged victorious with only the duo of Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed losing their match in a very positive session for the defending champions.

Johnson and Fowler actually trailed Rory McIlroy and Thorbjorn Olesen by one stroke after eight holes but captured four of the next five to build a 3-up lead heading to the 16th. The top-ranked player in the world would stuff his tee shot to a couple feet and make the pair's seventh birdie of the day to close out the contest.

McIlroy, who owns a sparkling Ryder Cup record, struggled mightily all day and finished as the only player on course to not make a birdie in the morning session.

Jordan Spieth absolutely tore apart the opening nine at Le Golf National, rolling in putts from all over the place on his way to five birdies in the first seven holes. That staked him and partner Justin Thomas to a nice lead over Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton, but it wouldn't last long thanks to a stretch by the English pair that saw them make six birdies in a row.

That run would square the match, but the European duo ran out of steam over the final few holes and lost on the 18th green.

Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau were the first group off the tee on Friday morning and ended up supplying the most surprising point of the day. The duo didn't lead their match against Jon Rahm and Justin Rose at any point until the 18th green, taking the win when the young Spaniard missed a putt for par.

Those three victories gave Team USA the hot start it craved, but Woods and Reed couldn't make it a perfect session for the visitors. The highly touted duo held a 2-up lead heading to the 11th hole, but Tommy Fleetwood put on a putting display for the ages on the closing stretch, making back-to-back bombs for birdie to square the match heading to the 13th.

The Englishman, alongside partner Francesco Molinari, would win the last three holes of the contest to make the final tally a 3&1 victory.