‘I’m Grateful We Have A Doctor’ - Zach Johnson Says Illness Affecting Team USA

Zach Johnson has revealed various players and caddies on Team USA have been struck down by illness at the Ryder Cup in Italy. 

The Americans failed to win a single match on Friday as Europe built a record-equalling advantage after day one at Marco Simone thanks to some final-hole heroics that halted the visitors’ mini-fightback. 

Luke Donald’s side won the foursomes 4-0 - the first time Europe has swept the Friday morning session in the Ryder Cup - and extended their advantage to lead 6.5-1.5 at the close of play.

The US had rallied to lead in three of the afternoon fourballs but clutch putts on the 18th from Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Justin Rose rescued half points on an historic day for Europe in Rome.

It leaves the holders, who won by a record margin two years ago, with a mountain to climb if they are to end 30 years of hurt on away soil. To make matters worse, Johnson admitted afterwards that a bug swept through the US camp in the build-up to the biennial contest.

Asked if he altered his afternoon fourball pairings after falling 4-0 behind, he said: “Well, we have contingencies and things of that nature based on a lot of things. You know, I would say that we'd love to have everything drawn out way, way ahead of time, but there's certain things you cannot control, and we are trying to control the controllables in our team room, and I'll leave it at that.”

Pushed further, he added: “The bottom line is there's been some unforeseen things that we've had to navigate around, which is really unfortunate, in the sense of health. It's not an excuse, because we have depth, but I'll just say, I'm grateful we have a team doctor.”

Johnson then confirmed it was a “congestion” issue that had been passed around multiple players and caddies, although he didn’t specify who, but praised the resolve shown by his team in the face of this adversity.

“We have got some congestion and some just signs of things that are unfortunate,” Johnson said. “It's one of those where sometimes the energy is probably a little low, but the ability and desire to go out and play is still there. 

“That's what we are weighing. Every one of them still wants to play every match, which is encouraging.”

Johnson also credited Team Europe for “playing great golf” but warned that it was “just a matter of time” before his players clicked into gear.