Ryder Cup EXCLUSIVE: What Tommy Fleetwood, Francesco Molinari prove - Tony Jacklin
SEVE BALLESTEROS and Jose Maria Olazabal combined in an extraordinary partnership when I was captain in the 80s and the more I see of Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari, the more I am reminded of those two great Spanish matadors.
I think this European team has more emotion than the Americans and that equates to extra passion. I can really feel the depth of emotion among our boys, especially with Tommy and Francesco. Neither of them appears to have a weakness in this matchplay format.
I know Tommy is a supposed rookie but I fully expected him to adapt well to this environment. He’s proved himself a class performer while Molinari is the Open champion.
To win four matches in a row as a pair is a special achievement. It’s the first time that’s been done by two Europeans and captain Thomas Bjorn will be looking to them as his linchpins again on Sunday.
They are both consummate professionals and it’s wonderful to see the level of excellence they have produced. There’s no hiding place out there in these matches.
Tommy and Francesco seem to have a real affinity for each other. Seve and Olly were the same.
They were great friends, great golfing warriors and I knew they would win whichever American combination I put them up against. Seve was a bit older but both had terrific passion.
The Justin Rose Henrik Stenson combination is almost as strong as the Fleetwood-Molinari one. Stenson was fantastic in the afternoon foursomes and the 10-foot putt he holed at the 15th was critical because they were only one up at that point and needed that to go in to stop Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka’s comeback in its tracks.
It was great to see Europe follow up their 4-0 foursomes whitewash on Friday by taking the first three fourballs on Saturday. That’s seven straight points they picked up.
But Jim Furyk’s men did well to rally. The Americans may be down, and they’ve clearly got a helluva lot to do to get back in this match, but it’s not over till it’s over.
As told to Tony Jimenez.
Tony Jacklin CBE is one of golf’s most acclaimed after dinner speakers and hosts a number of charity golfing events in partnership with Champions (UK) plc.
Ryder Cup: Sunday tee times
Singles
11:05am McIlroy vs Thomas
11:17am Casey vs Koepka
11:29am Rose vs Simpson
11:41am Rahm vs Woods
11:53am Fleetwood vs Finau
12:05pm Poulter vs Johnson
12:17pm Olesen vs Spieth
12:29pm Garcia vs Fowler
12:51pm Molinari vs Mickelson
12:53pm Hatton vs Reed
1:05pm Stenson vs Watson
1:17pm Noren vs DeChambeau
Ryder Cup: How to watch online
Sky Sports will be broadcasting live coverage of the Ryder Cup in the UK.
That means existing customers will be able to stream the action via the Sky Go app, which can be downloaded across a host of iOS and Android devices.
If you don’t have a Sky Sports subscriptions but still wish to tune in, golf fans can purchase a Sky Sports pass through NOW TV.
Day passes, which give you access to Sky Sports channels for 24 hours, cost £7.99 a day, with a weekly pass priced at £12.99 and no locking into a contract.
BBC2 will broadcast the highlights show at 7.30pm which can also be watched on the BBC iPlayer.
The Ryder Cup is also available to stream live on rydercup.com.