SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — For those who were watching, to ask for anything more than the 43rd Ryder Cup delivered on Day 1 would make you greedy. The same goes for Team USA, which stormed to a commanding 6-2 lead Friday at Whistling Straits.

Friday had absolutely everything. The day began in chilly, dead calm conditions for the morning foursome matches with the sun rising over Lake Michigan and spilling ribbons of shadows over the undulating fairways.

At midday, the weather heated up, and so did the Team USA, which took a 3-1 lead in the foursome (alternate shot) matches, a format in which the Americans historically struggle.

Then came the afternoon, which brought blustery conditions with 30-plus mile-per-hour winds whipping off the lake.

The U.S. won the afternoon session, 3-1 as well and that was hugely significant, because the Friday afternoon session has been the Americans’ undoing in the past three Ryder Cups, during which they have been outscored 10 ½ to 1 ½.

The U.S. put an end to that European chokehold and validated its morning dominance with a strong afternoon.

The 6-2 lead is the largest opening-day lead the U.S. has had in 46 years, dating to 1975, when it took a five-point lead into the second day.

Seven teams in Ryder Cup history had leads of four or more points after the first day and six of them went on to win. The only one failing to close the deal was Europe in 1999 at Brookline.

For an American team that has won the Ryder Cup just five times in the past 38 years, this was a big deal.

“It’s a great start,’’ U.S. captain Steve Stricker said. “But my message to the guys before I left is [Saturday] is a new day. Let’s just go out and try to win that first session again in the morning and pretend today never happened. Let’s keep our foot down and continue to play the golf that we know we can play.

“We’ve had some things that came up and bit us in the rear end in other Ryder Cups. These guys know that, and they are focused on [Saturday] and coming out strong again tomorrow.’’

Bryson DeChambeau, echoed Stricker, saying, “This is a great start, but the job’s not over.’’

Then he went one step further, saying: “We are a good team. Clean up a couple mistakes, and we’re going to dominate.’’

European captain Padraig Harrington called it “a tough day, clearly not what you wanted, 6-2.’’

“There’s obviously still 20 points to play for,’’ Harrington added. “We’ve only just played for about 25 percent at this stage. It isn’t a good start, but there’s still a lot to play for.’’

Harrington said the key for his team is to not try to get all the lost points back in one session or one day.

“You can’t just turn around and try to eat into a lead straightaway in one session,’’ he said. “It would be lovely if it happened, but you can’t think like that. You’ve got to do it slowly, one step at a time. We’ve got to prepare ourselves hopefully for a long battle all the way through.

“If we are going to get this done, it’s going to be a very tight one.’’

Paul Azinger, the 2008 U.S. winning Ryder Cup captain, has clearly stated that one of the keys for the Americans this week was to not let Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia hurt them.

Garcia and Rahm won their morning match over Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, and Rahm halved his afternoon match while Garcia sat. McIlroy lost both of his matches, the first time in his six Ryder Cups that he’s lost two matches in one day.

Dustin Johnson, meanwhile, won both of his matches, the first time has done that in one day. Patrick Cantlay, one of the six rookies on the team, produced 1 ½ points.

The final match of the day, Thomas and Cantlay against Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland was a killer for Europe. Thomas and Cantlay were 3-down through eight holes and clawed their way back, tying the match on a Thomas birdie bomb on the 17th hole. That led to the match being halved and the 6-2 U.S. lead.