What a way to start Ryder Cup weekend!

Ahead of the opening foursomes match, the atmosphere was absolutely rocking at Hazeltine once more as chants of ‘Arnold Palmer’ again – while Rory McIlroy was introduced to a smattering of boos for his celebration at the end of his fourballs match and subsequent criticism of the US crowd.

And both pairings started with birdies. Firstly, Rickie Fowler drained a 25-footer – prompting Phil Mickelson to roar ‘great f***ing putt’.

@ErinHogan fowler's Birdie on one pic.twitter.com/XOE7ZBHHkx

— Joe Dore (@Joedoretool) October 1, 2016

With the pressure on and a 20-footer himself, rookie Thomas Pieters was nerveless, sinking his putt before ‘shushing’ the crowd – leaving Fowler to applaud and Mickelson with a wry smile.

Wow stone cold, pieters goes with the Patrick Reed shush #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/fpoc7qfkKI

— the fried egg (@the_fried_egg) October 1, 2016

And the drama and gamesmanship didn’t end there. At the second hole, McIlroy conceded a five-foot par putt to the American. Very generous. But it was only because he just knew he was sinking his birdie putt - and he did.

With that, day two of the Ryder Cup was well and truly underway!

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Thomas Pieters :: Rating so far?

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