Rory McIlroy delivers 'go again' shout for Ryder Cup weekend

​McIlroy registered a clean sweep on opening day for the first time ever as he kicked off his seventh Ryder Cup appearance by partnering Tommy Fleetwood to a 2&1 foursomes success in the morning before teaming up with Matt Fitzpatrick for 5&3 afternoon fourball glory.

The United States failed to win a single match as Europe equalled the biggest day-one lead in the modern format of the Ryder Cup.

"Amazing...the fact that the Americans didn't win a full point was incredible,” McIlroy told BBC Sport NI. “I think it just shows the heart and the grit and the determination the European team had.

“It's an amazing day but it's only one day...there's two days left.

“It's a great start but we can't rest on our laurels.

“We need to go out there and win tomorrow's session in the morning and try to keep increasing our lead.

“I've had two good partners today.

“Tommy played brilliant this morning and Matt obviously got off to that unbelievable start this afternoon.

“I feel like I contributed quite nicely as well.

“I just think individually for myself but, more importantly, for the team it's been an incredible day.

“We're going to enjoy the day that we've had but we need to regroup and go again.

“We've got a ton of momentum to try and ride the crowd's energy...it's incredible.

“To try and win both sessions tomorrow is the plan.”

Since the Great Britain and Ireland team was expanded to Europe in 1979, a margin of 6.5 points to 1.5 had only before been achieved in 2004 and even then the Americans managed one foursomes win.

Europe won all four of the morning foursomes, only their fourth ever session whitewash.

Captain Luke Donald’s decision to start with foursomes for the first time since 1993, when the United States last won on European soil, paid handsome dividends.

Roared on by a partisan crowd at Marco Simone, the home side never trailed at any point in all four matches.