Key takeaways from Saturday's session at the 2023 Ryder Cup
The 2023 Ryder Cup has successfully concluded the first two days at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. Saturday's session was full of drama and emotions for both sides. While Team Europe is heading to final-day singles matches with a five-point lead, Team USA would hope to turn the tables with something miraculous.
There were multiple takeaways to look at Saturday's session of the 44th edition of the prestigious biennial event. Be it Jon Rahm responding to Brooks Koepka's "act like a child" remark or the European crowd mocking Patrick Cantlay by waving their caps.
Exploring the top five takeaways from Saturday's session at the 2023 Ryder Cup
Below are the top five takeaways from the second day of play at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome:
#5 Team USA mocks European fans by waving hats
After Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark defeated the pair of Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick in the final fourball match of the 2023 Ryder Cup, a few of the Team USA's players were spotted waving their hats to the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club crowd.
The gesture came after the crowd initially tried trolling Cantlay who was allegedly claimed for splitting the American locker room due to not being paid for paying in the prestigious biennial event.
#4 Team USA dominates afternoon fourball matches
In the first three series of matches, Team Europe had been dominant over the visitors. They entered the final series of fourball matches with a seven-point lead.
However, Team USA made a solid comeback to win three out of four final fourball matches on Saturday to stand a five-point deficit to the hosts.
Only the pair of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas lost the fourball match in the afternoon session.
#3 Brian Harman and Max Homa record Team USA's first victory
In the third foursome match of the Saturday session, Brian Harman and Max Homa record Team USA's first victory at the 2023 Ryder Cup. They defeated Team Europe's Sepp Straka and Shane Lowry by a margin of 4 & 2 and earned one point for their team.
Interestingly, on Friday, they recorded just three halved matches against the hosts.
#2 Rory McIlroy gets involved in a car parking quarrel with Patrick Cantlay's caddie
After the conclusion of Saturday's session at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, a video of Team Europe's Rory McIlroy went viral in which he was seen having a mouth quarrel with Patrick Cantlay's caddie Joe LaCava.
As per Team Europe's captain Luke Donald, LaCava was seen taunting McIlroy when the Northern Irishman was preparing for a birdie putt on the 18th hole at the 2023 Ryder Cup. Donald revealed that the latter respectfully asked the caddie to move aside, but LaCava's ignorance might have caused McIlroy to get furious.
#1 Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland record the largest margin of victory
In the second foursome match of Saturday's session, Team Europe's pair of Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland portrayed sheer dominance against Team USA's Brook Koepka and Scottie Scheffler.
They recorded the largest margin of victory in the 18-hole matches in the Ryder Cup since 1961 by defeating Koepka and Scheffler by a margin of 9 & 7.
Back in 1989, American's Tom Kite recorded an 8 & 7 over Howard Clark which became the largest margin victory in the prestigious biennial events history. However, in 1997, another American Fred Couples tied that record by defeating European golfer Ian Woosnam by the same margin.