The home team raced into a 4-0 lead after the morning foursomes as they won every match in the opening session for the first time ever.

A despondent US were then left stunned as their hopes of significantly clawing back the gap evaporated in the final stages of the afternoon fourballs.

Zach Johnson's men were up in three at one stage but saw leads in the top three matches disintegrate into halves by sensational European putting on the 18th.

Norway's Viktor Hovland first sunk a 26-foot putt to secure a half with England's Tyrrell Hatton against Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.

Jon Rahm then sensationally holed an eagle from 30-feet to gain a share of the spoils with Denmark's Nicolai Højgaard against Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka.

It got worse for the Americans as England's Justin Rose sunk a pressure putt of his own in the last match on the course to seal another half with Scotland's Robert MacIntyre against Wyndham Clark and Max Homa.

The US had been two up with two to play in that contest with the half meaning they failed to win a single match all day.

Spain's Rahm, who was consistently superb, had previously chipped in on the 16th to take the match back to all square, only to see world number one Scheffler putt in to put the Americans back to one up.

Rahm and Hatton had earlier won the top match of the morning 4&3 against Scheffler and Sam Burns as captain Luke Donald's men enjoyed a lightning start in front of a lively home crowd.

Ludvig Åberg of Sweden and Hovland won by the same margin over Homa and Brian Harman in match two, and Ireland's Shane Lowry and Austria's Sepp Straka beat Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa 2&1.

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy and England's Tommy Fleetwood also claimed a 2&1 win over Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay as Johnson's US suffered a nightmare clean sweep.

The scoreboard was entirely in Europe's favour from the moment McIlroy birdied the fourth hole and they did not trail in any match during the morning.

Europe won 22 holes with the US only winning 10, as Europe won the opening session of a Ryder Cup for the first time since the 2006 edition at the K Club in Ireland.

Hovland chipped in for a birdie on the first hole to set the scene and Masters champion Rahm was outstanding, including hitting the pin with his tee shot on the seventh.

In the fourth match of the afternoon, McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick raced away early against Morikawa and Schauffele, eventually recording a 5&3 victory to add further blue to the scoreboard.

The Ryder Cup continues tomorrow with the second round of foursomes and fourballs, before the concluding singles on Sunday (October 1).

Europe are aiming to win back the trophy after being thrashed 19-9 in the last edition in Wisconsin in 2021.

They need 14.5 points to regain the Ryder Cup, with the US requiring 14 to retain it.

The US have not won the Ryder Cup on European soil for 30 years, with their last away success at The Belfry in England in 1993.