‘Nothing could go wrong’
SPRING IN THEIR STEP: McIlroy and Poulter are clearly enjoying the occasion but for Bubba Watson, right, it is hard to bear Bjorn. “That’s a pretty special thing for him.
“Tommy and Francesco had a very, very good day today. That afternoon session is right at the top. When you clean sweep, that is something that is pretty special to all those players that are out on that golf course.
“We got those crowds behind us. They started believing and then it seemed like nothing could go wrong. That was kind of the feeling that you got.”
Bjorn cautioned against Europe getting ahead of themselves but a team has whitewashed a session nine times in Ryder Cup history and every time has gone on to win or retain the cup. Fleetwood, who won the French Open at Le Golf National two years ago, paid tribute to his team-mates for their part in the stunning afternoon turnaround.
“The boys that went out early did an unbelievable job. What a special afternoon for us as a team,” he said.
Fleetwood and Molinari will be reunited this morning for a fourballs rematch with Woods, who was rested for yesterday afternoon’s avalanche, and Reed.
Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia take on Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau, Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton play Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, and Ian Poulter and Jon Rahm face Spieth and Thomas. A PAIRING who won all three of their matches together at Gleneagles in 2014, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose were reunited as Europe attempted to come back from a morning deficit – and they duly clinched a point against sub-par opposition.
The American pair of Dustin Johnson and RORY McILROY made up for his morning disappointment while Poulter bounced back from hitting his opening drive into the water to win Europe’s second point of the afternoon.
McIlroy’s first birdie of the day finally arrived at the sixth.
Webb Simpson’s failure to hole a THERE was more success for the Francesco MolinariTommy Fleetwood partnership as they saw off the USA’s top afternoon pairing.
Fleetwood got a birdie at the third and a 15-footer for par at the fifth to extend Europe’s lead.
The Southport golfer found his touch on the Rickie Fowler were rarely in the contest and were five over par for the first 11 holes.
Although a first birdie of the round for the Americans on the 13th reduced the deficit, Stenson and Rose – who was unlucky to lose his fourball with Jon Rahm – closed out a comfortable win. 15-foot par putt at the seventh levelled the scores and when Simpson’s par putt lipped out at the short eighth and McIlroy holed from four feet, Europe were ahead.
Bubba Watson missed a six-footer having made a mess of the ninth and Europe turned two up. They never looked back. green with a curling 12-footer at the sixth taking them three up, although he did miss a par putt at the eighth to hand a hole back.
Molinari hit his tee shot into the crowd at the 11th.
But Jordan Spieth found water at the 13th and it was job done when Molinari birdied the 14th.