The Scenes From the First Tee at the 2023 Ryder Cup Looked Absolutely Unreal

The 2023 Ryder Cup kicked off outside Rome on a bright, clear morning, with thousands of fans crammed into the first-tee grandstands and lining the fairway. There's really no other scene in golf quite like it.

Those opening-tee stands at Marco Simone GC reportedly hold about 5,000 fans, but the total number on Friday morning far exceeded that. The scene was loud. It was wild. It was a little rowdy. (The TV broadcast picked up a heckler yelling, “You stink Scottie!” at Scottie Scheffler.)

Scheffler hit the opening shot for the U.S. to kick things off and he pulled his tee ball into the left rough. Jon Rahm hit the opening shot for Europe, and as he stepped to the tee he was already sweating through his cap and shirt. His drive found the right side of the fairway.

“It doesn’t get any better than the first tee at a Ryder Cup for me,” said European captain Luke Donald on the USA Network broadcast. “This is what sport is about.”

“Those 30 years are the past. Every two years is a new opportunity, a new venue,” said U.S. captain Zach Johnson while referencing the U.S. team's 30-year drought in Ryder Cups on European soil. “This is a new chapter for these 12 guys.”

That new chapter couldn't have begun in a better setting. Game on in Rome.