Can Briton match these first-timers?
Thomas Pieters Recorded the best score posted by a European rookie in delivering four points in an otherwise unsuccessful 2016 campaign.
Gardner Dickinson Scooped five points in the US’S huge win in 1967, the joint-highest rookie score by a US player. Larry Nelson Nelson matched Dickinson’s score in another big win for the Americans in West Virginia in 1979.
Sergio Garcia and Paul Lawrie Two European rookies lit up an otherwise devastating defeat for their side in 1999, each scoring 3½ points in Brookline.
In Philadelphia a few weeks ago we all sat together having breakfast or lunch and started talking about it a lot. I got plenty from that, from the likes of Poults [Ian Poulter], Justin [Rose], Rory [Mcilroy] and Henrik [Stenson].
“It’s funny, I was in a video we did in a car for a sponsor’s social media feed, with Rory driving and Poults calling me the rookie and Henrik winding me up and everything. Even though it was for the cameras, there was plenty of content they didn’t show when I was asking about their Ryder Cup experiences and it was really good and useful for me. I’ve been interrogating them just to get a feel, although I know it’ll only be when I actually get on to that first tee when I’ll really know what it’s like. I’ve wanted this for a long time so I’m interested to find out.”
One of Fleetwood’s first childhood memories was watching the Ryder Cup. “I was six and Valderrama was on and I remember Seve [Ballesteros, the Europe captain at the time] and Monty [Colin Montgomerie] having a kerfuffle on the 17th fairway when he was trying to play Monty’s shot for him and Monty sort of walked off. That sparked my attention and I was hooked.
“And then, two years later, I persuaded Mum and Dad to allow me to stay up to watch the finish at Brookline and Justin Leonard holing that putt against [Jose Maria] Olazabal and the Americans storming the green. We went nuts in my house about how wrong it was and I didn’t really know why. It just felt right. That’s what the Ryder Cup does to you, I guess.”