And after celebrating son Frankie’s first birthday last night, Fleetwood will be back today (Sat) with best pal Francesco Molinari – also known as ‘Frankie’ – to try and inflict more damage on Tiger Woods and co.
Les Blues turned the tables on America after recovering from 3-1 down to lead 5-3 overnight after a foursomes whitewash.
But Europe captain Thomas Bjorn has shown no mercy by naming his dream pairing – who won both their matches yesterday – to take on USA superstar Woods and Patrick Reed this morning.
Bjorn said: “Tommy is on his way back to the hotel to spend an hour or so with his son, and that will be nice for him. That's a pretty special thing for him and for Clare. That's been agreed a long way in advance that that was going to happen.
“I couldn't promise Tommy that he was going to play two sessions today, so there were a few different ways of doing it. Now he's on his way back to the hotel to have a little bit of time with his family.”
Fleetwood Jnr spent the day strapped in a pushchair being wheeled by his grandparents well within earshot of his gutsy dad’s heroics on the fairway.
Fleetwood and reigning Open champ Molinari recorded Europe’s only win of a disastrous fourballs session yesterday morning with a 3&1 win over the same two Americans.
They stuck together in the afternoon to crush Jordan Spieth and rookie Justin Thomas 5&4 as Europe came charging back to earn a precious two point lead.
America captain Jim Furyk admitted: “I think that Molinari and Fleetwood were a formidable team today, both very good ball-strikers.”
Europe claimed their first 4-0 whitewash in the foursomes with Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson playing key roles in the revival.
Poulter said: “I played with Frankie in practise this week, and he barely missed a fairway and barely missed a green. And I played with Tommy as well, and he played great. That pairing was a very solid pairing from when Thomas agreed to put them out.
“They have done a stellar job, they really did. They played some great golf today, and it's great for them to go 2-0. It's pretty impressive.”
Europe’s clean sweep in the afternoon will be a tough mental blow admits Poulter.
He said: “It would be hard to take, from the buzz of the morning round and as strong as their matches turned around there at the end, you'd be disappointed. There's no question about it.
“We were disappointed from the morning. I know the guys, when I was going out this morning to warm up, it's hard to take.
“When you're sitting in a team room and there's not — there's not a great buzz, it's not a nice feeling. You just have to pick yourself up and go back out and try and turn it around.”
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