Europe's Ian Poulter has insisted that he is capable of 'shrugging off' this morning's poor form in order to get his team back on top in the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.
The 38-year-old and rookie Stephen Gallacher suffered a 5&4 defeat to USA rookies Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, who put their team's first point on the board.
Poulter was not chosen for this afternoon's foursomes as Europe try to overcome their current one-point deficit in Scotland.
Despite the disappointment, Poulter has drawn on the 2004 tournament when he and Darren Clarke suffered an opening 4&3 defeat to Tiger Woods and Chris Riley.
"Obviously my record has been pretty good so taking a dent this morning I can shrug that off and look forward to tomorrow," Poulter told reporters. "Obviously it's a loss on the board, whether that be 5&4 or one down, but I don't look at it as a heavy loss, I just look at it as a loss.
"I said to Stevie walking off the golf course when I played with Darren Clarke in 2004 we had our butts kicked the first time I ever played and obviously we've had that today. But you know what, things can change very quickly.
"Me personally, I need to hole a few more putts and that's what I didn't do. I left a few putts short, which is very frustrating, but this is a strong team and a team that you'll see fight very hard right till the end."
The USA currently lead 2.5-1.5 over the defending champions.
Danielle Joynson
