Ryder Cup 2018: Tiger Woods struggles, drops first match

Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods and partner Patrick Reed fell to England's Tommy Fleetwood and Italy's Francesco Molinari on Friday at the 2018 Ryder Cup.

The loss dropped Woods' record at the tournament to 13-18-3. He will sit out for the afternoon session, following the four-ball defeat. Woods and Reed were the only U.S. duo to lose the opening set of matches.

Fleetwood and Molinari won the match 3-and-1. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth won their match 1-up on Paul Casey and Tyrell Hatton. Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler finished 4-and-2 over Rory McIlroy and Thorbjorn Olesen. Tony Finau and Brooks Koepka were 1-up on Justin Rose and Jon Rahm.

Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau will take the place of Reed and Woods at Le Golf National, taking on Sergio Garcia and Alex Noren in Match 3.

"I'm not going to work on anything," Woods told the Golf Channel. "My game is fine. My cut really wasn't cutting off the tee today. I was hammering it. The ball was going far. It was going straight, but it was not cutting. I can accept that. That's really no big deal."

The afternoon matches feature Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose from Team Europe taking on Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler from Team USA. Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson are the Americans battling Ian Pouler and McIlroy. Molinari and Fleetwood are facing Thomas and Spieth in the afternoon foursomes.

Team USA led the Europeans 3-to-1 entering the afternoon rounds.