American Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson suggested illness had beset his players and caddies after the team succumbed to a horror start in Rome on Friday.
Team USA failed to win a single match for the first time ever in the event on day one as Team Europe performed a clean sweep in the morning foursomes and ended the day with a 6½-1½ lead.
And Johnson hinted that an unspecified health issue, which had spread the camp, was partly to blame.
He said: “The bottom line is there’s been some unforeseen things that we’ve had to navigate around, which is really unfortunate, in the sense of health.
“It’s not an excuse because we have depth but I’ll just say I’m grateful we have a team doctor.
“We’re just fighting things… internally. It’s kind of passed around a little bit, caddies, players. It is what it is. Guys are fighting and playing regardless. It’s not anything that’s kind of weighed us down because of the depth we have.
“It’s one of those where sometimes the energy is probably a little low but the ability and desire to go out and still play is there. Everyone of them still wants to play every match, whi is encouraging.”
Johnson would not go into specifics of which players had been affected of those either in the morning foursomes or else the afternoon fourballs.
