‘Woods, Mickelson no cause of worry for Europe at Ryder Cup’

Ryder Cup debutant Tommy Fleetwood claims neither he nor his European teammates will be overawed by the presence of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the United States line-up at the biennial trans-Atlantic head-to-head later this month. Woods and Mickelson were included among U.S. team Jim Furyk’s picks for the clash, which will be held at Le Golf National course just outside Paris from Sept. 28 to 30.

Fleetwood believes his team mates’ familiarity with the duo as well as home advantage will boost their bid to reclaim the Ryder Cup. “Most of us guys on the European team play in the same tournaments against Phil and Tiger week in and week out at the moment,” he said.

“You can’t deny they’re two of the best golfers ever and they always will be, but when you tee it up you’re just playing another golfer, it doesn’t matter who it is.

“They were always guaranteed to be picked and they’ve had good years themselves. Phil won a World Golf Championship and Tiger could have won three or four events on his comeback and he’s done better than anybody thought he was going to do, especially this year, and he’s playing some great stuff.

“But that will make no difference to us, it really won’t. It will help their team in an experience sense just because they’ve played so many Ryder Cups but it will make no difference to us.”

The Americans are looking to win on European soil for the first time since 1993 and Fleetwood