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Ryder Cup score update: United States dominating afternoon four-ball

While the Europe and United States teams at the Ryder Cup stayed tied through the morning, the Americans are looking to capture the Day 1 lead with a strong afternoon showing.

Ross Kinnaird - Getty Images

After the Friday morning foursomes, the Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, IL, was tied up 2-2, but thanks to hot starts from some of the United States' pairings in the Friday afternoon four-ball, the Americans are projected to finish the day with the lead.

During the morning foursomes, Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley earned a point for the U.S., as did Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson. However, strong performances by the pairings of Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell as well as Ian Poulter and Justin Rose tied it up at 2-2.

The afternoon four-ball has been all United States though, as most of the pairings are finishing up the front nine. Most notably, the pairing of Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson have dominated Paul Lawrie and Peter Hanson, winning six of the first eight holes. While they lost hole 11, they are still five-up with seven holes to play.

Although not quite to the scale of Watson and Simpson, also doing very well are the Mickelson/Bradley and Johnson/Matt Kuchar pairings. Mickelson and Bradley are three-up on McIlroy and McDowell through the front nine, while Johnson and Kuchar are two-up on Rose and Martin Kaymer through six.

The final matchup of Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker against Lee Westwood and Nicolas Colsaerts is the closest of the afternoon rounds, all square through seven holes.