By Martyn Herman
ROME (Reuters) – Like a pair of marauding Vikings, Norway’s Viktor Hovland and Swede Ludvig Aberg routed American duo Scottie Scheffler and Brookes Koepka by the biggest margin in modern Ryder Cup history as Europe’s demolition of the U.S. continued on Saturday.
Showing no mercy, they trampled the bewildered Americans into the earth of the Marco Simone course to claim an astonishing 9&7 win in the second foursomes of the morning.
It surpassed the 7&6 record victory for a foursomes match in the biennial contest that had been achieved three times.
The only bigger individual match wins came in 36-hole contests with a couple of 10&9 scores in 1931 and 1947.
Incredibly, Hovland and Aberg were up against two of the biggest names in Zach Johnson’s American team, with Scheffler ranked world number one and Koepka a five-time major winner.
But they made them look like Sunday morning hackers as they delivered a fearful beating, with every blow being roared by thousands of fans who lined the fairways.
Even more incredibly, the 23-year-old Aberg only turned professional after in June and has never contested a major.
But he looked like a world beater as he and Hovland dominated from the moment they won the opening hole after Scheffler hit a tree with his tee shot.
They turned what was supposed to be fierce battle into an exhibition match with the shot of the day being Aberg’s tee shot at the par-three fourth that stopped three inches from the hole.
“I don’t even know what to say or where to start,” Aberg, who dominated the U.S. college scene and was an amateur world number one, said. “Obviously an unbelievable day but most important we enjoyed it, we had fun and felt the crowd support.
“Looking forward to doing it all again this afternoon.”
While they played near-perfect golf, Scheffler and Kopeka cut sorry figures as they bumbled around the course, finding water and deep rough and very few fairways.
They looked like dead men walking after conceding the ninth, trudging to the 10th tee in silence. Thankfully for them their torment was over on the 11th.
It was the biggest margin of victory since Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson beat current Europe captain Luke Donald and Lee Westwood 7&6 in 2012.
The victory left Europe 7-1/2 1-1/2 ahead.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, Editing by William Maclean)
