SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood walked down the fairway after delivering another big point in the Ryder Cup, side by side with their arms around each other’s shoulder.

Here came “Moliwood” at Le Golf National, the latest Ryder Cup sensation and the first European tandem to win all four matches since the current format began in 1979. Even more satisfying was that three of those points came at the expense of Tiger Woods.

But this was no time to celebrate.

“We came here to do a job, and it wasn’t to go in the record books or anything like that,” Molinari said.

And now they have to do it by themselves.

Everything points to Europe’s taking back the precious gold trophy on Sunday, starting from a 10-6 lead that requires Europe to win only 41/2 points from the 12 singles matches on the final day.

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Woods hasn’t won any of his three matches.

Phil Mickelson didn’t even play Saturday.

Europe filled the board with its blue scores right from the start, winning three of the four matches in fourball for an 8-4 lead, its largest after three sessions in 14 years. It held on in foursomes, with Henrik Stenson delivering clutch putts in the only match that was close.

But the score should sound familiar, and it was enough to make them cautious. That’s the same deficit Europe faced in 2012 at Medinah when it produced the largest comeback on foreign soil. The Americans have never made up that much ground away from home, though they were the first to win after trailing 10-6, at Brookline in 1999 when they front-loaded the Sunday lineup with their biggest stars.

Europe brought five rookies to Le Golf National who sure didn’t seem like rookies – Alex Noren and Fleetwood were the last two French Open champions on the Albatross Course – and certainly didn’t play like that.

The four captain’s picks have delivered six points, while the American picks have contributed one, by Tony Finau.

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“We’re really, really, really happy with how it’s gone these past two days,” Europe captain Thomas Bjorn said.

If not for Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, the Americans might really be in trouble. They pulled ahead in a tight fourball match to beat Ian Poulter and Jon Rahm for the lone American point in the morning that prevented Europe from a second straight sweep of a team session. They rallied from an early deficit against Poulter and Rory McIlroy in foursomes, with both delivering key shots and big putts. With four birdies over their last five holes, they won 4 and 3.

Europe was up 10-4 until Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson won their match on the 16th, and Spieth and Thomas closed out their match right behind them.

Woods has failed to win in seven consecutive matches, dating to his singles victory against Molinari in Wales in 2010. Woods, coming off an inspiring victory at the Tour Championship for his first title since his litany of back surgeries, has looked flat in the Paris suburbs.

He hasn’t had much help, but he also missed key putts around the turn that allowed Europe to build a big lead.

“Everything feels pretty good,” Woods said. “Just pretty (ticked) off, the fact that I lost three matches and didn’t feel like I played poorly. That’s the frustrating thing about match play. We ran against two guys that were both playing well.”


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