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Ryder Cup Day 2: Europe's historic dominance continues
Team Europe's Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood celebrate after winning the match on the 16th hole during the foursomes on the second day of competition for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. Paul Childs-Reuters via Imagn Images

Takeaways from Ryder Cup Day 2: Europe's historic dominance continues

The United States continued to flop at the 2025 Ryder Cup on Saturday, again falling short against a dominant showing from Europe. Europe is already up to 11.5 points through Saturday (to only 4.5 for the United States), and needs just 2.5 points to retain the Ryder Cup and three points on Sunday to win it outright. 

Europe's lead going into Sunday is not only its largest lead entering singles play in European team history, but it is also the largest lead entering singles play by any road team in the history of the competition. 

Here are some takeaways from Saturday's action.

United States trotted out the same losing pairings from Friday

The day got off to an ominous start for the United States when captain Keegan Bradley decided to send out the same pairings from Friday that were humiliated by Europe on the first day of the competition. 

The most baffling of those decisions was to again send out the pairing of Harris English and Collin Morikawa after they were routed on Friday. They were only marginally better on Saturday, but still not good enough. 

At the end of the day, it still comes down to players making good shots, but it's been a complete teamwide failure for the United States all weekend. From both the players and their captain. 

Scottie Scheffler's Ryder Cup struggles continue

When he's on the PGA Tour, Scottie Scheffler is as dominant as any active golfer. He is the No. 1 player in the world and a constant threat to win any tournament and any major, having already won four of them (two Masters, one PGA Championship and one Open Championship) in his career. But something happens to him every two years in the Ryder Cup where he just ... loses it. Where something does not click for him and everything just falls apart.

He made some history on Saturday, and it was not the type of history any world-class golfer wants to be associated with.

He became the first golfer in the history of the Ryder Cup to go 0-4-0 through the first four rounds of the competition, dating back to 1979 when it became the United States vs. Europe. 

Scheffler has not won a single match in the past two Ryder Cups, a stretch where he is 0-6-2. In his three Ryder Cup appearances overall, he is just 2-6-3 in his matches and gained only 31.8% of the points that were available to him. 

That is not enough for the top golfer in the world in a team competition like this. The United States needed more from him, and will need a lot more from him on Sunday. 

Tommy Fleetwood's dominance for Europe

On the other side, Europe's Tommy Fleetwood has had one of the most dominant showings ever for the European Ryder Cup team, having already collected four points on his own through the first two days. 

He alone is just a half-point behind the entire United States team, which is obviously a very bad sign for the Americans. 

He also made some history on Saturday by becoming the first player to ever claim a 4-0 combined record in foursomes and four-ball two times. 

Emotions ran high in the stands and on the course

While the crowd may not have matched expectations on Friday when play began, the emotions really seemed to escalate on Saturday, both on the course and in the stands. 

At one point, Europe's Rory McIlroy cussed at fans who were making noise and yelling during his pre-shot routine, while Shane Lowry had a fan removed from the stands following his 11th tee shot. 

All of that led to an increased police and security presence following the McIlroy-Lowry pairing. 

There were also several heated exchanges on the course, including one tense exchange between Justin Rose and Bryson DeChambeau's caddie, and then an exchange between Ted Scott and Francesco Molinari. 

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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