Holders Europe dropped the foursomes and four-ball matches each by a 3-1 margin, with four-time major winner Rory McIlroy suffering the first two-loss day in his Ryder Cup career.

"We can come back from 6-2," vowed McIlroy, who was benched by Europe captain Padraig Harrington from Saturday's opening foursomes matches.

"You can't just turn around and try to eat into a lead straightaway in one session," Harrington said.

"I would have liked to maybe put some more points on the board," Hovland said.

Harrington says there is still all to play for with Europe needing 14 points to retain the Cup from eight pairs matches Saturday and 12 concluding singles matches on Sunday.

"There's obviously still 20 points to play for.

',="" sans-serif;"="">United States 6-2 Europe

',="" sans-serif;"="">Dustin Johnson/Collin Morikawa (USA) bt Paul Casey and Victor Hovland (EUR) 3&2

',="" sans-serif;"="">Dustin Johnson/Xander Schauffele (USA) bt Paul Casey/Bernd Wiesberger (EUR) 2&1

',="" sans-serif;"="">Bryson DeChambeau/Scottie Scheffler (USA) and Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton (EUR) tied

',="" sans-serif;"="">Tommy Fleetwood/Viktor Hovland (EUR) and Justin Thomas/Patrick Cantlay tied