The USA Team pairing of Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker drew first blood for the home team when they went 1up in winning the second hole in their opening match against the all-Ireland pairing of Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell gets the 2012 Ryder Cup underway. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)

McDowell got the Ryder Cup underway hitting the opening tee shot, albeit a wild shot left of the fairway before before fellow U.S. Open champion, Rory McIlroy found the fairway with a 3-wood.

“It was a very bizarre experience,” said McDowell.

“I was actually feeling very calm and very cool until I stepped over the ball.  I couldn’t ignore the silence.

“The silence was deafening, and it made my mind go blank.  It was very strange.  Didn’t put a very nice swing on it after that.”

American rivals Furyk and the in-form  Snedeker then followed suit with a near identical pull.

And on the first tee were the two captains and with Europe’s Jose Maria Olazabal excited about the prospect of retaining the gleaming trophy.

“That is the beauty of this event and you never see anything like this in any other sport,” said Olazabal.

“Rory and G Mac are a strong pairing and hopefully they will play good enough to win a point.

“They talked long about who would tee off first and G Mac agreed said he would tee off first.”