With rookies making up half of their roster, the United States laid waste to the notion that experience is essential to thriving in the Ryder Cup’s glaring spotlight.

The US strolled to a 19-9 victory over Europe for just their fourth win in 13 Ryder Cup competitions, thanks in part to the performance of their six newcomers. Daniel Berger, Patrick Cantlay, Harris English, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler posted a combined 14-4-3 record in their debuts.

US captain Steve Stricker had enough faith in his rookies he put four of them in the first five singles matches on Sunday (Monday morning AEST) at Whistling Straits.

“I mean, that’s unheard of,” Cantlay said. “And those guys are performing. Everybody gets along. The atmosphere is light, but I know everyone has that killer instinct and we are going to bring that to future cups.”

While the US rookies starred, the European newcomers struggled. Europe’s three Ryder Cup rookies – Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland and Bernd Wiesberger – went a combined 1-8-2.

Rather than wilting under the pressure of representing their country, the US team’s rookies blossomed. They backed up the comments of teammate Tony Finau, who suggested beforehand that the team’s inexperience might be more of a help than a hindrance.

Finau said on Thursday that “we have a team with no scar tissue” because it featured so many players who weren’t part of the US team’s recent cup defeats. Finau said he saw a roster full of players who were confident rather than wide-eyed.

For the next three days, the rest of the world saw that as well.