SAINT-QUENTIN-en-YVELINES, France — It was a bloody four hours from which the US Ryder Cup team might not recover in the next two days.

At 1:38 p.m. France time, the Americans were riding high in their pursuit of a first Ryder Cup road victory in 25 years. They’d won the first three matches of the morning fourball session and were trying to duplicate the 4-0 opening-session shutout they pitched two years ago en route to a 17-11 victory.

But by 5:38 p.m., which marked the end of the afternoon foursomes session, the US was reeling, down 5-3 and wondering, like a boxer who’d been knocked to the canvas and dazed, what happened?

Europe won the last available point in the morning, a momentum-changing 2&1 victory by Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood over Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed, and then it swept the afternoon foursomes session — the first time that’s ever been done in Ryder Cup history.

“Obviously, we needed something important to happen in the afternoon,’’ Sergio Garcia said.

And so it did.

And it wasn’t just the 4-0 score in the foursomes, it was how the Europeans got to that 4-0 score. They blew out the Americans in all four matches.

Garcia and Alex Noren crushed Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, 5&4, in a match they were 7-up at the turn. Molinari and Fleetwood dusted Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, 5&4. Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose beat Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, 3&2. And Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter came back from the only afternoon match the US appeared to have any control in, 2-down through five holes, and won, 4&2.

Yes, it was that bad.

“It was a bit of a roller coaster ride, to be honest,’’ European captain Thomas Bjorn said. “We were obviously disappointed with this morning. (But) it was a great afternoon. It’s a pretty special occasion for those players that they have done that (first to sweep a foursomes session), but they are also very well aware that you can enjoy this for about an hour, and then you turn around to (Saturday) and you start focusing on what’s ahead of us. We know it’s a marathon.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that (Saturday) morning it could be completely different again.’’

US captain Jim Furyk was left to pick up the pieces Friday night. He did his best to put a positive spin on the proceedings.

“You’ve got to look at it (like) we played for eight points so far out of 28 (and) the event’s still pretty young,’’ Furyk said. “We’ve got one more team format (Saturday) and then the singles (Sunday). A pretty small percentage of this golf tournament has been played.’’

As for the blowout afternoon, Furyk said, “If we would have lost both sides 2-1/2 to 1-1/2 and this thing was 5-3, we would still be in the same place, and y’all would probably have a little bit different look on your face about how it happened.

“Here’s the great thing about match play: In medal play, you can shoot 68 and 78 and you’re down ten shots and you’ve got to try to make that up for the next three days, right? In match play, you can make a 10 on a hole and the other guy makes a 3 and you only lose one hole. You can make that up the very next hole.

“Kind of the same thing with these matches. You lose 6&5, you lose 2&1, it’s still the same result, correct? We have to shore things up, and I’m guessing we’ll switch things up in the afternoon (Saturday). I think our guys will respond.’’

Furyk, in an effort to duplicate Friday’s morning success, is trotting out the same lineup for Saturday morning’s fourball session.

Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau will play Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler will play Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton, Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed will play Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood and Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas will play Justin Rose and Jon Rahm.

In the near-perfect U.S. start to the morning, Fowler and Johnson defeated Rory McIlroy and Thorbjorn Olesen, 4&2. Koepka and Finau gave the US a 2-0 lead when they defeated Rose and Rahm, 1-up. Spieth and Thomas, two close buddies playing a team event together for the first time, beat Casey and Hatton, 1-up.

So there are positive results for the Americans to draw upon Saturday morning.

“I have a lot of confidence in this team,’’ Furyk said. “Obviously, it’s going to leave a sour taste in their mouth and they have to sleep on that. We’ll come back (Saturday) and I bet we’ll be fine.’’