Frankie rose to Moliwood
The United States won the first three points, Europe won the next five. But that stark and remarkable statistic from an enthralling opening day of the 42nd Ryder Cup does not begin to describe the extent of the home fightback to take a 5-3 lead — or the range of emotions on display.
Between them, two Thomases and two Frankies had quite the day to celebrate.
Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco “Frankie” Molinari triumphed in both their matches together, taking down, no less, than Tiger Woods in the morning and Jordan Spieth in the afternoon. Europe captain Thomas Bjorn saw his unwavering faith in the game plan pay hugely encouraging rewards.
And little “Frankie” Fleetwood? Well, this was Franklin’s first birthday and although he did not know anything about it, he did get his father’s time last night. Bjorn handed Fleetwood permission to spend the evening away from the team room with his family. And that was the very least the rookie deserved.
With every player having appeared already, Molinari and Fleetwood — now immortalised under the “Moliwood” banner — are the only two players with two points.
And then they recorded a third win in the fourballs on day two overnight, beating Woods and Patrick Reed 4&3. Europe won three of the morning fourballs to take a commanding 8-4 lead into the afternoon foursomes, needing 141⁄2 to regain the Ryder Cup.
“This is as
Fleetwood said.
“Fleetwood and Molinari just have a special bond and relationship,” Bjorn added. “And they have for a long time. They summed up what this team is all about.” good as it gets,”
That bond was stretched early on day one. Justin Rose and Jon Rahm lost on the last hole to Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau in the top match, having looked booked in for a point when two holes up with six remaining. The US resurgence featured an outrageous piece of fortune for Finau on the 16th, when his ball ricocheted off a stanchion to within a few feet of the hole.
The scoreboard was a foreboding sight when a deeply out-of-sorts Rory McIlroy and Thorbjorn Olesen were dispatched 4&2 by world No 1 Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler.
And when Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton succumbed on the 18th, despite a valiant recovery, it looked as if Bjorn’s gamble to include a rookie in each of the four games was backfiring horribly.
At that stage, the Dane must have feared the same 4-0 whitewash Darren Clarke’s team suffered two years ago, a beginning from which they never recovered as the US won for the first time in eight years. But after trailing by two with eight remaining, “Moliwood” put their name up in lights, coming through 3&1.
For Woods, this was his fifth Ryder Cup game in succession that he has failed to win. It also led to the first time he had ever been benched on the first day.
Furyk also stuck to his formula and made the baffling choice of pairing up the poor rookie Bryson DeChambeau with Phil Mickelson, who ranked 192nd out of 193 in driving accuracy on the PGA Tour this season and is about as suited to foursomes on a tight track as he is to right-handed croissant-baking.
The result was a 5&4 humbling, although credit should be given to Sergio Garcia and Alex Noren, who were five-under for the front nine, a ridiculous figure in foursomes, on Le Golf National, in windy conditions.
This was sweet vindication for Garcia, whose wild card was widely rubbished, and a few minutes later came redemption for McIlroy as well, when together with Ian Poulter, he saw off Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson 4&2.
At lunchtime, many experts were asking if the Irishman should have been benched following his morning mediocrity but Bjorn explained his blueprint around this debate.
“Great players, when they don’t perform to the standards they want, they have an ability to put it right, and Rory did that,” Bjorn said.