Astonishing moment Ryder Cup volunteer saves Justin Thomas from disaster at Bethpage

A volunteer at the Ryder Cup inadvertently prevented a disastrous shot from Justin Thomas in the Friday morning foursome action from Bethpage Black.

Thomas pulled his 3-wood for his second shot at the par-5 13th hole at the course after a strong drive from playing partner Bryson DeChambeau.

But Thomas' shot sliced right and seemed destined to hit a bunker or kick into the woods.

Instead, it bounced right in front of the feet of a volunteer - and then into that person's body.

The volunteer raised their hands to proclaim innocence, but it set up DeChambeau for a decent pitch shot that landed 18 feet from the hole.

Thomas then promptly missed his putt to the right of the cup and blew it two feet past the hole.

Meanwhile, Englishman Tyrrell Hatton knocked in his eight-footer in for par to go 3-Up on the Americans.

It was a perfect encapsulation of how horrid the start of the Ryder Cup was for Team USA - with the Thomas/DeChambeau pairing eventually losing to Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm 4&3.

Despite a promising start from Thomas and DeChambeau by winning the first hole, the pair lost their advantage on the seventh hole and then completely imploded.

They would go on to lose three of their final four holes to be the first American group to concede points in the tournament.

Roughly five minutes later, the 'Fleetwood Mac' group of Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy won their match 5&4 - beating the over-matched group of Harris English and Collin Morikawa.

Eventually, the Europeans would take three of the morning foursomes when Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick silenced the struggling duo of Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley.

It's a nightmare start for American captain Keegan Bradley, who is hoping to prevent the US from losing the Ryder Cup matches on home soil for the first time since 2012.