Ryder Cup heroes Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari have been grouped together for the opening two rounds of the Sky Sports British Masters.
The pair dubbed “Moliwood” were a sensation at Le Golf National a fortnight ago, winning all four of their matches together – the first European pairing to achieve the feat – before Molinari created further history by winning his singles against Phil Mickelson.
The Open champion’s victory fittingly secured the overall winning point for Thomas Bjorn’s side, although Fleetwood’s remarkable debut ended with a heavy defeat to Tony Finau on the final day.
The record-breaking pair will head to the first tee at Walton Heath at 12:25pm on Thursday along with Ryder Cup team-mate Thorbjorn Olesen, whose thumping 5&4 victory over Jordan Spieth in Paris was one of the performances of the week.
Tournament host Justin Rose has an early start for the first round, and the world No 2 has been grouped with defending champion Paul Dunne and 2015 winner Matt Fitzpatrick – the trio teeing off from the 10th at 8:20am.
That threeball will be followed by Bjorn himself, who plays with two of his assistant Ryder Cup captains in Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington, two of the favourites to be named European skipper for the next contest at Whistling Straits in 2020.
Former world No 1 Luke Donald, who hosted the British Masters at The Grove two years ago, returned to action last week following a lengthy spell out with a back injury and tees up with fellow Englishmen Eddie Pepperell and Sam Horsfield.
Donald’s group begin their tournaments in the next group after Fleetwood, Molinari and Olesen, and in the group ahead of former Masters champion Danny Willett and fan-favourite Andrew “Beef” Johnston, who has an excellent record at Walton Heath during qualifying for the US Open.
