The boo boys in the grandstand had a pretty tame attempt to infiltrate into the head space of Rory McIlroy and, to a lesser extent, Tommy Fleetwood on their arrival to the first tee for the morning foursomes at the Ryder Cup. The reaction of the two Europeans – immune to it all – indicated those virtual reality headsets spouting vile which had been used as part of their prep probably contained more vindictiveness.
And, indeed, the way that McIlroy and Fleetwood seamlessly picked up their work from Rome two years ago – when impervious in the foursomes – was the perfect riposte to those brickbats and unsavoury shouts in inflicting a 5 and 4 win over Collin Morikawa and Harris English as Europe’s defence of the trophy got away to a flyer.
That old Fleetwood Mac hit Landslide would have made a nice soundtrack to the accompaniment of the duo’s swings at Bethpage Black as they moved from the first tee with purpose and closed out the match on the 14th, where the one-sided roars all came from the many European supporters who had forked out their $750 (and more in some cases) for the general admission.
The entourage that followed this third foursomes match featured the good and the great. CC Sabathia, the Yankees’ Hall of Famer baseballer, towered above many, while Limerick hurling manager John Kiely − not to be outdone − obligingly posed for selfies with a number of GAA-jersey clad fans who were prominent along the ropes.
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JP McManus, who will play host to the centenary match of the biennial encounter at Adare Manor in 2027, was also among those following the deeds of McIlroy and Fleetwood, along with wives, family members and corporate insiders.
From the off, Europe took the initiative – Fleetwood pitching from the rough to four feet with McIlroy, his putter like a magic wand, rolling in the birdie putt to move one up. And it would be a case of building blocks hole-by-hole to the point where the American duo of Morikawa and English trailed by four holes through six.
The boisterous crowd never materialised, not for the opening morning foursomes. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that the bars only opened for the $19 beer at 9am, at which point Europe had already established a strong lead in silencing any roars.
The worse that was thrown at McIlroy was a reminder of his US Open loss to Bryson DeChambeau last year. Time and time again some wit thought he was being original. “Remember Pinehurst!” came the roar. On the first. And on many holes after. But McIlroy was true and sure with the putter, until a missed putt on the ninth gave Morikawa and English what would be their only win. That miss was met by the biggest shouts of acclaim from the home supporters, which told its own story in truth.
McIlroy and Fleetwood would not lose another hole, and a par on the par-4 12th to the USA’s bogey restored the five holes advantage for the Europeans. It would be only a matter of time before Morikawa and English were put out of their misery, and the sounds of Óle Óle Óle dominated the singing and chanting with no USA in response.
“Europe’s on fire,” picked up the many away supporters, a far cry from Whistling Straits in 2021 when, post-Covid, there were hardly any European fans.
Time too for one of Luke Donald’s daughters to quickly snap a line of tee-shirted European supporters by the 14th green where the match came to an end. “There’s a new DONALD in town” was printed across the shirts, with a picture of their dad.
“I feel like I’ve wasted half a day,” moaned one star-spangled home supporter to no one in particular before traipsing away.
The Fleetwood Mac combo had again worked its magic, making it a 100 per cent return from three matches – two in Rome and now one in New York – and there was a sense of satisfaction without any fear of losing the run of themselves from the pair.
McIlroy looked so comfortable in his own skin, driving the ball beautifully and his putter rolling pure. Still, the Masters champion tipped his cap to the man by his side. “When you’ve got a partner like Tommy you can play with so much freedom and so much trust in your game because you know you have someone that’s going to back you up,” said McIlroy.
The feeling, undoubtedly, mutual. It was a statement win.
“There’s a lot of things fuelling that belief,” said Fleetwood. “I think as a team there’s a lot of continuity there. But one step at a time. I think we’re all enjoying the process of this Ryder Cup so much, and we’ve all been so excited to play, even knowing how difficult it might be. We have a lot of motivation. We have a lot of belief and we know what we’re playing for.”
