Transport issues aside, this was a joyous opening for Team USA. Barack Obama appeared on the first tee to pump up the crowd and as the Stars and Stripes took a record 6-2 advantage, there was the overwhelming sense of “yes, we can”.

They have seen the Europeans hold aloft the Solheim Cup in the last three matches, but following this emphatic start are overwhelming favoruites to record their first win in this particular biennial dust-up in seven years.

Maybe this Friday the 13th will be remembered for the tens of thousands that were stranded outside the gates of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club because of issues in bussing in the hordes from the park-and-ride and the resulting flat atmosphere on the first tee. A spectacle that is usually so special was shamefully ruined.

Yet from a purely golfing point of view, this appeared to be the moment when the Americans finally let off the handbrake and put on a display of almost one-way traffic as they compiled the biggest first-day lead in the 34-year existence of the event. Nelly Korda was the star of the show. And Obama, of course.

The former president knows how to play an audience and after the grandstands had at last filled for the afternoon fourballs, the cheers rang out as Obama, a member here, conducted the din. By then the home support had plenty to shout about as their side enjoyed a 3-1 advantage after the morning foursomes. And the chants of “USA, USA” grew only louder as the repeated the scoreline in the afternoon fourballs.

Korda carved her own slice of history by becoming the first American to win two games on a single Solheim day, each by at least three holes. But then Rose Zhang, Lauren Coughlin and Sarah Schmelzel emulated the world No 1. They followed where Korda led.

Korda and Allisen Corpuz accounted for Hull and German’s Esther Henseleit 3&2 and then she and Megan Khang walloped another Englishwoman Georgia Hall and Leona Maguire 6&4. Korda won all the par fives she played – eight – and looked as dominant as when winning six out of seven tournaments earlier in this season.

USA captain Stacy Lewis was appropriately delighted. “I have to say in my head I was thinking 3-1 each session would be an awesome day, and it worked out that way,” she said.

“The girls just played some unbelievable golf and certainly having Nelly and Megan go crazy, going out there first this afternoon helped. The best part is when Nelly came skipping out of that tunnel on the first tee in the afternoon. That’s what I like to see more than anything – the energy she came out with. The golf comes from that.”