HOORAY FOR MOLIWOOD!

Molinari and Fleetwood eclipse Seve and Olazabal with sweep of team points on historic day for Europe

SCOT Brian Barnes has dined out for most of his life on the fact he once beat Jack Nicklaus twice in the same day at a Ryder Cup. Imagine the tales Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari will be able to tell of two golden days in Versailles when they beat Tiger Woods three times in the 42nd edition.

Hooray for Moli-Wood, then, but do not forget the rest of Europe’s rampant team who have broken all sorts of Ryder Cup records already with more storied ones set to fall.

They came into this contest with some people declaring them the greatest European team of all and, while that was debatable beforehand, they are on the brink of ending all conceivable arguments.

Another unforgettable day at this Ryder Cup that is living up to every expectation left Europe with a 10-6 advantage going into today’s 12 singles.

If that makes it sound like today should be one long ‘Ole! Ole! Ole!’, let us not forget this is also the scoreline that occasionally leads to unbearable suspense.

When one team go for broke and sometimes pull off a miracle, as Europe did at Medinah in 2012, and America in the Brookline bearpit in 1999. But Europe have so many redoubtable characters, it cannot happen again. Can it?

Certainly, to this point, there has been so much to enjoy about the way these players have come close to breaking the American spirit, with Sergio Garcia on the cusp of becoming Europe’s leading all-time points scorer and Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson showing once more they are a foursomes partnership to rank with any.

Only one of the foursome matches proved a tense affair yesterday. Trust Stenson to hole the putts that mattered and Rose to strike the clutch blows as they defeated Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, the world No 1 and No 3. That is four foursomes matches they have played over three Ryder Cups and they have won them all.

How do you do justice to Fleetwood and Molinari? They set the tone on Friday morning with their point in the anchor fourballs and ensured yesterday that there was no loss of momentum. The best pals who have accomplished something that eluded even the greatest partnership of all, Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal.

With two more points to add to the two they claimed on Friday, they became the first European pairing to win four matches out of four.

The scale of their accomplishment becomes clear when you think two were achieved against a 14-time major champion and the scourge of past Ryder Cups, Patrick Reed; one against Tiger and Bryson DeChambeau, with a fourth against the two most decorated young players in America — Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

None came close to giving them a match, or at least one that went to the final hole.

Molinari and Fleetwood are always two of the game’s best ball strikers but when they putt like they have done so here, they apply such pressure not even Tiger can cope.

Not on a set-up like this one, anyway. Not when there is such a premium on accuracy that plays right into the hands of the man known as ‘The Machine’ and the Southport golfer who is just about the nicest man in the game when he is not stepping on your throat if there is a Ryder Cup point at stake.

Now, having achieved history together, they can go one step further on their own, for no European has ever won five points out of five.

As it is, Fleetwood has equalled the best performance of all time by a debutant, matching Thomas Pieters’s haul of four points at Hazeltine. After their surrender on Friday, when Europe achieved their first ever foursomes whitewash, America at least managed to put up a fight yesterday.

Spieth and Thomas showed their class with two of the three points they mustered. Bubba Watson chipped in with one alongside Webb Simpson, who should have played more on a course that is tailored for his straight hitting. That has been the difference. America have barely anyone on their team known for driving accuracy — in that stat on the PGA Tour this year, only Rickie Fowler finished in the top 90 — while Europe have half-a-dozen straight shooters.

The American sluggers have tried to bludgeon Le Golf National into submission, only to discover that brain beats brawn.

Indeed, American captain Jim Furyk must be looking at his vicecaptains — Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Steve Stricker — and be tempted to conclude he might have been better off with this trio of accomplished plodders plus himself around this layout.

There can be no question that his opposite number, Thomas Bjorn, has proven a captain with the requisite amount of bravery and conviction. He listened to all the complaints when he picked Garcia after his poor form.

Yesterday morning, his man kept up Rory McIlroy’s spirits when he was misfiring and registered a point with a gutsy 20ft putt on the 17th hole against Johnson and Tony Finau. With this point, Garcia moved past Bernhard Langer into second place on the all-time list. Another win today and he will go ahead of Sir Nick Faldo.

‘Serg-io,’ was the cry that rang along the dunes. If he wins today, he will be deserving of the proudest title: the greatest European.