Unbeaten Americans Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley were 1-up at the turn on top-ranked Rory McIlroy and third-ranked Sergio Garcia in Friday’s showcase fourth match of the Ryder Cup’s opening fourballs session.
The US duo went 3-0 at Medinah in 2012 in its debut and could become the first American pair to claim four consecutive points in the biennial showdown with Europe since Lanny Wadkins and Larry Nelson in 1979.
Five-time major winner Mickelson opened with a birdie but McIlroy, who won this year’s British Open and PGA Championship, matched him with an 18-foot putt to halve the first hole, producing the event’s inaugural fist pump.
Europe seized the lead at the par-3 fourth when Garcia blasted out from a bunker, the ball rolling down a ridge and into the cup for a birdie to win the hole.
But the Spaniard missed a short par putt at the seventh, allowing the Americans to square the match on Bradley’s par.
At the par-5 ninth, Mickelson blasted out of a bunker inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie that put the US duo ahead at the turn.
Mickelson’s needling McIlroy about having filed a lawsuit against his former management company, one still used by pal Graeme McDowell, added spice to the encounter.
“Of course it does,” McIlroy said. “Phil likes to get a few jabs in here and there. We let him know we heard them the other night. Hopefully we can do our talking on the course.”
Mickelson, a 44-year-old left-hander with five major titles, made history as the first American to play in 10 Ryder Cups, one shy of Nick Faldo’s all-time record.
Mickelson was in his 39th overall game and 17th in the fourballs format, both US records.
McIlroy and Garcia were the fourth first-time pairing Friday by Europe, a move also used in the opening fourballs in 2010 at Celtic Manor, when McIlroy was a first-session loser to Mickelson and Bradley.
Garcia has six wins in 11 Cup fourball starts, with Northern Ireland star McIlroy his eighth different partner.