Millions of American golf fans woke up stunned Friday morning when they saw that the European team swept the United States in the opening session of the 44th Ryder Cup. The heavily favored Americans, defending their title from a dominant performance on home soil in 2021, never led in any of the four matches.

It's the first time Europe swept the opening session of a Ryder Cup and just the fourth time it went unbeaten in any session in the competition's history.

“We are off to a great start this morning,” Ireland's Shane Lowry said, via Mark Schlabach. “We need to keep the foot down. Look, we are very happy with our start today, and obviously there's a lot of golf to be played from here. We talked about getting off to a fast start, and we have done that.”

Lowry, appearing in his second consecutive Ryder Cup for Europe, helped the hosts earn a point while paired with Austria's Sepp Straka. The duo topped the American pairing of Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa 2-and-1 to give the Europeans a 3-0 lead.

That came after a second 4-and-3 win for Europe in match No. 2 on the day. The American duo of Max Homa and Bryan Harman were no match for Europe's Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg.

“Obviously, they played really well,” Homa said. “We didn't have a ton of opportunities, and when we did, unfortunately we didn't capitalize. I mean, they played really good.”

The Americans have their work cut out if they want to retain their Ryder Cup title. With three sessions left to play before Sunday's singles match, team Europe is in the driver's seat.