Points are award for each hole in the nine-hole matches at Feather Sound Country Club, with better ball (Six Ball) in the morning and the modified alternate shot (Scottish Sixsomes) in the afternoon.

Soren Kjeldsen and Alex Cejka each registered 20 points for Europe, which had 57 points.

The U.S. and International teams were at 52.5 points each. Two more sessions follow on Friday, and then it concludes Sunday with Singles.

“We got off to a nice start, but as you can all see, scoring is still really, really tight, really close,” Clarke said. “There’s a lot of volatility in the matches to come.”

Kjeldsen is a vice captain for Team Europe, but he filled in for Bernhard Langer, who sat out with an illness. Langer is expected to play Friday.

• Course setup (nine holes): Par 36; morning: 3,492 yards; afternoon: 3,464 yards
• Weather: Mostly sunny. High of 77. Winds N/NW at 6-12 mph.

Session 1 scores (Morning Six Ball)

• Six Ball #1
  • Thomas Bjørn/Darren Clarke (EUR): 10 points
  • Steven Alker/Mike Weir (INT): 10 points
  • Stewart Cink/Jason Caron (USA): 7 points
• Six Ball #2
  • Mark Hensby/Y.E. Yang (INT): 10.5 points
  • Jerry Kelly/Steve Flesch (USA): 9 points
  • Miguel Angel Jiménez/Colin Montgomerie (EUR): 7.5 points
• Six Ball #3
  • Alex Cejka/Søren Kjeldsen (EUR): 10.5 points
  • Steve Stricker/Justin Leonard (USA): 9 points
  • K.J. Choi/Angel Cabrera (INT): 7.5 points

Session 1 notes

• Team Europe Captain Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjørn, who teamed up to win the American Family Insurance Championship in June, tied two-time Charles Schwab Cup winner (2022, 2024) Steven Alker and Team International Captain Mike Weir for the most points in the first Six Ball group of the day.
• Team International’s duo of Mark Hensby and Y.E. Yang birdied the opening hole to take an early lead in their group and never looked back, scoring 10.5 points to lead second group of the day.
• Team Europe Vice Captain Søren Kjeldsen, who subbed in for Bernhard Langer (illness) on Thursday, teamed up with Alex Cejka to lead the final group of the day with 10.5 points. The European pair birdied seven of their nine holes in Six Ball.

Team scores after Session 1

Session 2 scores (Afternoon Scotch Sixsomes)

• Scotch Sixsome #1
  • Thomas Bjørn/Darren Clarke (EUR): 11 points
  • Stewart Cink/Jason Caron (USA): 9.5 points
  • Steven Alker/Mike Weir (INT): 6.5 points
• Scotch Sixsome #2
  • Mark Hensby/Y.E. Yang (INT): 10 points
  • Jerry Kelly/Steve Flesch (USA): 8.5 points
  • Miguel Angel Jiménez/Colin Montgomerie (EUR): 8.5 points
• Scotch Sixsome #3
  • Steve Stricker/Justin Leonard (USA): 9.5 points
  • Alex Cejka/Søren Kjeldsen (EUR): 9.5 points
  • K.J. Choi/Angel Cabrera (INT): 8 points

Session 2 notes

• Clarke and Bjørn birdied six of nine holes in the afternoon en route to scoring 11 points to lead the first group in Scotch Sixsomes.
• Hensby and Yang were the leading point scorers in their group for the second consecutive session with 10 points in the afternoon.
• Steve Stricker, playing his first competitive golf since mid-June, teamed up with Justin Leonard to score 9.5 points and tied the Euro duo of Kjeldsen and Cejka in the afternoon.

Format and scoring overview

• In every group, all nine holes of competition will be played. No group will feature close-outs.
• A total of three points will be awarded on each hole of every nine-hole competition during Thursday and Friday’s team competition as well as for Sunday’s morning and afternoon Singles groups.
  • The team with the lowest score on each hole will receive two points. The team with the second-lowest score on a hole will receive one point. The team with the highest score will receive no points.
  • Whenever teams finish with the same score on a hole, those teams will be awarded the same number of points.
  • If two teams finish with the lowest score on a hole, each team will receive one and a half points. The third team, finishing with the highest score, will receive no points.
  • If one team finishes with the lowest score on a hole and the other two finish with the same (higher) score, the team with the lowest score will receive two points, with the other two teams receiving a half point.
  • If all three teams finish with the same score on a hole, each team will receive one point.

Definitions

• Six Ball (Best Ball): Each player plays his own ball for the entire hole, and the lowest score from each team is used.
• Scotch Sixsomes (Modified Alternate-Shot): Each player hits a tee shot, and the team then selects one tee shot to play from. Alternate-shot play begins from there, with the player whose drive was not selected hitting the second shot on the hole.