Europe’s Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy celebrate on the 11th hole at Bethpage Black golf course during the Ryder Cup golf tournament, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Farmingdale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Europe’s Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm look at the ball in the rough on the seventh hole at Bethpage Black golf course during the Ryder Cup golf tournament, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Farmingdale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Europe’s Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy celebrate their win on the 14th hole at Bethpage Black golf course during the Ryder Cup golf tournament, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Farmingdale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Europe’s Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton celebrate on the eighth hole at Bethpage Black golf course during the Ryder Cup golf tournament, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Farmingdale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Europe’s Tyrrell Hatton looks at the ball in the rough on the seventh hole at Bethpage Black golf course during the Ryder Cup golf tournament, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Farmingdale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
‘Fleetwood Mac,’ Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton deliver familiar Ryder Cup success for Europe
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) 鈥 Rory McIlroy waited two years to play again with Tommy Fleetwood at a Ryder Cup. It took mere minutes for them to look like the perfect teammates again.
Europe’s Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy celebrate on the 11th hole at Bethpage Black golf course during the Ryder Cup golf tournament, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Farmingdale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) 鈥 Rory McIlroy waited two years to play again with Tommy Fleetwood at a Ryder Cup. It took mere minutes for them to look like the perfect teammates again.
They weren’t the only ones. Jon Rahm hit a splendid shot out of the rough to bail out Tyrrell Hatton on the sixth hole. Hatton did the same for Rahm moments later, when a stick inches away from their ball threatened to derail the duo on the seventh.
While captain Luke Donald with the exact lineup that in 2023, he kept Europe鈥檚 two most reliable pairings together 鈥 and the result was a dominant start at Bethpage Black and following morning foursomes on Friday.
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鈥淲e have a lot of great players and a lot of great partnerships,鈥 Fleetwood said. 鈥淎s a team, there鈥檚 a lot of continuity there.鈥
The 鈥淔leetwood Mac鈥 tandem rolled past Collin Morikawa and Harris English 5-and-4. Rahm and Hatton rallied from a rough first few holes to beat Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas 4-and-3.
Eliciting the sing-song 鈥淥le! Ole! Ole!鈥 chants from fans waiting at the 18th hole they didn鈥檛 come close to needing, Rahm’s and Hatton鈥檚 mutual admiration more than ran its course.
鈥淭his man is a joy to be partnered with,鈥 Rahm said. “We spend a lot of time together and he can be very, very dependable when things get going difficult. I have full confidence every single time, and just glad we were able to get it done.鈥
DeChambeau and Thomas were 1 up through five when Hatton鈥檚 tee shot went left and into the rough. Rahm chipped his second shot to around three feet, and they halved the hole.
鈥淛on hit an amazing recovery shot,鈥 Hatton said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think anyone thought that we鈥檇 be putting second.鈥
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They tied it on No. 7 after Hatton rescued them with his shot over the stick and through the trees to land it on the green. They went 1 up on No. 8 and never relinquished the lead the rest of the way.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have our best start during the first seven holes, (but) we battled, we stayed in it and from then on we started hitting good shots and getting really positive vibes,鈥 Rahm said.
Returning 11 of the 12 players who won at Marco Simone two years ago, Donald split up Viktor Hovland and Ludvig 脜berg , putting them with new partners. 脜berg and Matt Fitzpatrick beat Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley, while Hovland and Robert MacIntyre lost to Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
By juggling things a bit, Donald may have found a new winning combination. Asked about beating Scheffler, the top-ranked golfer in the world, Aberg said: 鈥淚 had a great partner. I think that speaks to it.鈥
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