Fleetwood, Molinari head European charge
PARIS: Europe headed into the final day of the 42nd Ryder Cup with Jim Furyk’s United States side exactly where it wants it after stretching its lead to a commanding 106 yesterday.
Thomas Bjorn’s men began the day 53 ahead, ended the morning fourballs 84 to the good and consolidated their advantage during the foursomes despite American resistance.
Over the opening two days there have been few chinks in the European armour with AngloItalian pairing Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari leading the onslaught.
Sent out again by Bjorn, they combined to inflict two crushing defeats on 14times major champion Tiger Woods yesterday as his miserable weekend continued.
Fleetwood, one of five rookies in Bjorn’s dozen, is the first European debutant in Ryder Cup history to win his first four matches while his union with this year’s Open champion, already nicknamed Moliwood, is the first from Europe to win maximum points from the first two days.
‘‘They were phenomenal,’’
Bjorn said.
Stunning cameos from Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy, Paul Casey and another rookie, Tyrrell Hatton, mean Europe is 4.5 points from regaining the trophy it lost at Hazeltine two years ago.
Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas valiantly kept the United States afloat.
Furyk picked exactly the same pairs for the fourballs yesterday — players with 23 major titles between them — but this time, with a teasing northeasterly wind up across Le Golf National, they could barely locate a fairway or green.
McIlroy and Garcia withstood a fightback by Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau for a 2 and 1 victory — Spain’s Garcia nailing it with a stupendous 8m birdie on the 17th.
Casey’s redhot putter helped him and Hatton to a comfortable 3 and 2 win against Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, and Woods was given little support from Patrick Reed, who spent most of his time hacking through kneehigh rough in a 4 and 3 loss to Fleetwood and Molinari.
When Woods lost again later it was his 19th defeat in 29 fourballs and foursomes.
Spieth and Thomas snapped a sequence of eight unanswered European points as they beat Poulter and Spanish rookie Jon Rahm.
Woods toiled away in the afternoon with Bryson Dechambeau but he was powerless to prevent a 5 and 4 defeat by ‘‘Moliwood’’.
Johnson and Koepka lost a fierce tussle 2 and 1 against Europe’s old reliables, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson.
The US team finally put some more red on the board, though, with Spieth and Thomas defeating Poulter and McIlroy 4 and 3 after losing the first two holes, and Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson getting the better of Garcia and Swede Alex Noren.
It left Garcia tantalisingly short of the one point required to take his tally past the 25 of alltime Ryder Cup points record scorer Nick Faldo.