“Koepka on the bench! What a joke of a RC”: Golf fans react to Phil Mickelson wishing Team USA luck for Ryder Cup
The 2023 Ryder Cup did not start well for the American team, which lost all four matches on Friday morning. Fans are not happy at all and have expressed it in all sorts of ways. Even in the comments of a post by Phil Mickelson on National Coffee Day.
Mickelson posted a general congratulations on National Coffee Day, expressing what coffee means to him. In the post, he also wished the American team luck in the Ryder Cup.
Fans took the post as another way to express their frustration with the team's start at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.
Let's see some of the reactions from fans on X:
"Koepka on the bench! What a joke of a RC."
How did Friday morning go at the 2023 Ryder Cup?
The first round of foursomes for the 2023 Ryder Cup took place on Friday morning. It couldn't have gone worse for the United States, which lost all four matches.
Zach Johnson "didn't remember" how badly Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns fared as a pairing in the 2022 Presidents Cup and put them up against Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. The Americans lost 4&3.
The unexpected rookie duo of Max Homa and Brian Harman played Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg. The Europeans took the match 4&3.
Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa lost 2&1 to Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka. By the same score, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood defeated Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
These foursomes have been the talk of the town since they were announced. Fans have disagreed with some of Zach Johnson's choices for this Ryder Cup opener.
The track record of Schefller and Burns as a team and the rookie status of Homa and Harman have been hotly debated.
But also the benching of one of the team's top players, Brooks Koepka, and the top-performing combination in the last two editions of the event, Jordan Spieth/Justin Thomas.
For the afternoon round of four-balls, Johnson paired Spieth and Thomas against Hovland and Hatton. Scheffler and Koepka were paired with Rahm and Nicolai Hojgaard.
Homa is back in a duo with another rookie (Wyndham Clarck) against Robert Macintyre and Justin Rose, and Collin Morikawa and Xander Scauffele play McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick.
Two of the afternoon matches are finished—both halves. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth vs. Viktor Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton, and Scottie Schefller and Brooks Koepka vs. Jon Rahm and Nicolai Hojgaard. The live score for the event is 5 to 1 in favor of Europe.
The Ryder Cup continues on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the second rounds of foursomes and foursomes will be played in the morning and afternoon, respectively, while the 12 singles matches will be played on Sunday.