But I am so proud of my 12 guys," said Europe skipper Luke Donald, whose team seized control of the 44th Ryder Cup on Friday with a 4-0 sweep of the morning foursomes.
The 32-year-old Fleetwood, who picked up three points from his four matches, had not expected to be centre of attention.
Northern Ireland's McIlroy, playing his seventh Ryder Cup, beat dogged rookie Sam Burns 3&1.
McIlroy, Europe's talisman, ended up with four points to take his career Ryder Cup tally to 18, and said it made up for the pain of Whistling Straits.
But Fowler drove his tee shot into water at the par-four 16th and when Fleetwood found the green, Europe could breathe easy.
Persons:
Ryder, Marco Simone Golf, Luke Donald, Phil Noble, Fleetwood, Hovland, McIlroy, Hatton, MacIntyre, Homer, Koepka, Thomas, Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, Marco Simone, Rickie Fowler, Zach Johnson, I'm, Donald, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Spain's, Rahm, Scottie Scheffler slugged, Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Northern Ireland's McIlroy, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay's caddie, Justin Rose, Englishman Tyrrell Hatton, Brian Harman, Swede Ludvig Aberg, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele, Nicolai Hojgaard, Fowler, Martyn Herman, Clare Fallon, Ed Osmond
Organizations:
Country Club, Ryder, REUTERS, European Ryder, U.S, mojo, Briton, 44th Ryder, Northern, British, Thomson
Locations:
Rome, Italy, ROME, Europe, American, Whistling Straits, U.S, Bethpage