Nick Faldo will get his first taste of captaincy when he leads the Great Britain and Ireland team in their quest for a fourth straight victory against Seve Ballesteros’ Continental Europe in the Seve Trophy at The Heritage Golf and Country Club at Killenard, Co. Laois, Ireland.
Following the success of The Ryder Cup at The K Club in 2006, Ireland again plays host to team golf of the highest calibre that will hone the match play skills of Europe’s top golfers under the watchful eyes of two of golf’s fiercest competitors in their day with extraordinary match play records of their own.
Both teams will have five debutants in their ten man teams with Faldo selecting England’s Simon Dyson and Marc Warren of Scotland as his wild cards to join the other newcomers, the English trio of Phillip Archer, Graeme Storm and Oliver Wilson. They will line-up alongside the experience of Englishmen Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Nick Dougherty, Welshman Bradley Dredge and Colin Montgomerie of Scotland.
Faldo – Europe’s Ryder Cup Captain in 2008 – said: “Captaining the Great Britain and Ireland team offers me a great opportunity to see some of the young players who have been performing well this season in action at a match play event.”
Warren admitted he was certainly relishing the chance given to him. “Making the Seve Trophy team was one of my goals for the year, so I’m delighted to be in it – I’ve obviously been doing something right this season for Nick to pick me,” he said.
“It’s going to be exciting, and a chance to get to know Nick better. It’ll be interesting to see how he does as captain, but he was a great player and great champion and with all his experience, I don’t think he’ll leave any stone unturned.”
Ballesteros opted for a blend of experience and youthful exuberance with this two picks, Dane Thomas Björn and rookie Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño of Spain completing his ten man team as Continental Europe look to win the Seve Trophy for the first time since the inaugural event at Sunningdale in 2000.
Fernandez-Castaño completes a quintet of rookies with Markus Brier of Austria, Dane Søren Hansen, Gregory Havret of France and Finland’s Mikko Ilonen. Ryder Cup players Robert Karlsson of Sweden, Miguel Angel Jiménez of Spain and Björn will add experience to the team as will past Seve Trophy participants Peter Hanson of Sweden and Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin.
Of the 20 players in action this week only Björn, Jiménez and Montgomerie have played in all four previous encounters and completed the most matches – 19 out of a possible 20 – with Montgomerie enjoying the best record of the three with nine points from eight wins and two halved matches.
The Seve Trophy will be played over The Heritage course which was co-designed by Jeff Howes and Ballesteros in 2004 and features no fewer than 98 bunkers, while five lakes and a stream bring water into play on ten holes. It is widely recognised as one of the best courses in Ireland.
The teams will compete over four days with five fourball matches on both Thursday and Friday, four greensomes matches on Saturday morning, four foursomes matches on Saturday afternoon and ten singles on Sunday. It means a total of 28 points are available with 14 ½ points required for victory.
Great Britain and Ireland won the last match at The Wynyard Club in north east England with a five point winning margin of 16 ½ - 11 ½. It was their third success in a row following previous victories at Druids Glen in 2002 – the last time the Seve Trophy was played in Ireland – and at Campo de Golf Parador El Saler in Spain in 2003. Continental Europe’s sole victory was in 2000 when they edged the contest 13 ½ - 12 ½ at Sunningdale.
