Europe's Rory McIlroy has admitted that he and partner Sergio Garcia were not at their best on day one of the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.

The pair were on the losing side against the USA's Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, who finished their fourballs match 2 up this morning.

However, this afternoon, the duo managed to fight back to earn half a point over Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker in their foursomes match.

"We were making life difficult for ourselves out there," McIlroy told Sky Sports News. "I don't think we were playing from the fairway very much, but we wanted to at least ask them the question and make them play down 18. We had two tough matches today and at least we have a half-point to show for it."

Europe were trailing the USA by one point before this afternoon's foursomes session, but the defending champions bounced back to head into tomorrow's action with a 5-3 lead.