Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood lead European charge once more at Ryder Cup

The pairing dubbed ‘Fleetwood Mac’ were four up after nine holes on Collin Morikawa and Harris English.
Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood lead European charge once more at Ryder Cup

By Jonathan Veal, PA, New York

‘Fleetwood Mac’ were again on song as Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood helped Europe to another strong start on the second day of the Ryder Cup.

The British pair were in perfect harmony in the Saturday morning foursomes as they looked set to deliver another point for Luke Donald’s side, who came into the day with a 5.5-2.5 lead following an excellent opening day.

Having demolished Collin Morikawa and Harris English 5 and 4 on Friday morning they were taking the same opponents to the cleaners again, sitting four up at the turn.

American captain Keegan Bradley had stood by Morikawa and English but his faith looked misplaced.

McIlroy and Fleetwood recovered from a slow start, where they went one down at the first, to win the second, third, fifth, seventh and eighth holes.

McIlroy, who appeared to have made an offensive gesture to someone in the crowd on Friday, was again interacting as he blew kisses on the first tee and fired a comment to someone at the second hole, and that propelled him to some more outstanding golf on the way to a likely fourth successive foursomes win for the pair.

‘Vik and Bob’ proved they were no comedy act as Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland were one up against world number one Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley through six.

Birdies at the second and fifth put them two up but the Americans reduced the arrears at the sixth.

Lethal duo Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton were one up against Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay after eight holes.

The LIV team-mates let a two-up lead slip to be tied after seven holes before Rahm astonishingly chipped in from the edge of a bunker on eight to regain the advantage.

There was some American cheer on another difficult morning as Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Young looked set to deliver a much-needed point for the hosts.

They were three up against Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Aberg.

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