U.S. sweeps morning foursomes in Ryder Cup

CHASKA, Minn. — Phil Mickelson had just walked off the 18th hole at Hazeltine National Golf Club, capping the morning foursomes with the U.S team posting a surprising 4-0 sweep.Mickelson conferenced with his teammate for the morning, Rickie Fowler, and American captain Davis Love III as the home crowd celebrated a nearly unprecedented morning.Mickelson, the veteran of the 12 Americans in his 11th Ryder Cup, then cautioned this 2016 Ryder Cup has just begun.”It’s just a great start for us,” Mickelson said. “We don’t want to look ahead, obviously, because we had four-point lead going into singles and we ended up not doing it in 2012. So, this is just the first series, but our guys are doing our job. They’re playing some great golf.”Mickelson and Fowler went all 18 holes but secured a 1-up victory against Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlory and England’s Andy Sullivan. Mickelson hit a few errant tee shots, but paired well with Fowler to twice recover from deficits to McIlroy and Sullivan.Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar went out strong, holding a 5-up lead after just eight holes. Johnson and Kuchar won 5 and 4 in beating England’s Lee Westwood and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters.Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed led almost the entire day, pulling ahead on the second hole and winning 3 and 2 against Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and England’s Justin Rose.Jimmy Walker and Zach Johnson posted a comeback on the second nine, closing out by winning five straight holes against Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Germany’s Martin Kaymer with a 4-and-2 victory.NOTES: The U.S. team posted its first 4-0 sweep of any session since the first day in 1981 at Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England. It was the last sweep of a session to open a Ryder Cup for America since the morning foursomes in 1975 at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Pennsylvania when Arnold Palmer was the team captain. … In remembrance of Palmer, who died Sunday, his golf bag from 1975 was present on the first tee, with several coaches stopping for pictures with the bag. … European captain Darren Clarke held back Masters champion Danny Willett from the opening foursomes. Willett, from England, was in the news this week as his brother, Peter, wrote an article in the United Kingdom critical of American golf fans.