Tommy Fleetwood keen to partner Rory McIlroy at future Ryder Cups

The European pair teamed up for their second foursomes win of the contest on Saturday, holding off a spirited fightback from Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas to win 2&1 at Marco Simone.

Asked about the prospect of partnering McIlroy in future Ryder Cups, Fleetwood said: “If he’ll have me.

“There’s so many people on this planet that dream of playing with Rory and I’m the one who has had the opportunity to do it for the last two mornings. Just happy to be along for the ride and play some good golf.

“We did very, very well. There was a couple of hiccups here and there but we held the putts when we needed to and thankfully Rory bailed me out on the last one.”

McIlroy, who holed from 12 feet to seal the win on the 17th after a clumsy first putt from Fleetwood, said: “It’s been an absolute pleasure to share the golf course with this man beside me over the last couple of days.

“He’s great because he makes you feel so at ease and you know that you can play loose.

“You don’t feel like you need to be perfect because you know you’ve got a partner beside you that’s going to bail you out if you need to and is going to hit the right shots at the right times.

“I think in foursomes, someone that strikes the ball like this man, you feel really comfortable playing alongside someone like that.”