Spanish stars lead from the front

Sergio Garcia equalled another Ryder Cup record as he and fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm led from the front to score Europe's first point at Whistling Straits.

The 41-year-old was already the top points scorer in the tournament's history coming into the week, and following the 3 & 1 win over Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas in the first match of the Friday Foursomes session, Garcia now has 23 match wins, tying the European record held by Sir Nick Faldo.

But the opening morning belonged to the home side, who lead 3-1 after matches two, three and four all went their way.

The performance of Garcia and Rahm, though, will surely give European Captain Pádraig Harrington some hope as they overcame a sticky start to power to victory.

The Spanish stars complemented each other beautifully, with Garcia setting Rahm up with some superb approach shots and the World Number One rolling in the putts to put Europe out of sight.

The United States drew first blood with a birdie at the second to win the hole but Europe levelled things up at the third before taking the lead when Rahm produced a contender for putt of the day, holing from nearly 60 feet on the fourth.

Europe lost their lead on the fifth hole but were soon back in control when Rahm holed putts at the seventh and eighth to put Europe 2 Up.

Another birdie on the tenth sent Europe 3 Up, and even though USA fought back - reducing the gap to two holes on two occasions - Europe held on to close out the win.

Garcia said: "It felt great. The best thing was I knew I had Jon on my side and I wouldn’t change him for anyone.

"He was amazing. He made every putt he had to make.

"And it was a good match. Don't get me wrong. Jordan and Justin played well and we had to play very, very well to beat them.

"So it was a well played match and I'm very happy to be able to get a point for Europe."

Paul Casey and Viktor Hovland had been in front early in their clash with Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa but fell behind after seven holes and were unable to recover, eventually losing 3 & 2 in match two.

It was a completely different story in the bottom two matches, with Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger never behind in their 2 Up win over Lee Westwood and Matt Fitzpatrick.

While Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele blew Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter away in the anchor match, winning the first five holes before fighting off a late comeback from the European pair to win 5 & 3.