Great Britain & Ireland claimed the first point of the Vivendi Seve trophy as Paul McGinley’s side look to win a sixth consecutive contest.
Continental Europe started the week as the bookies’ favourites to regain the trophy for the first time since 2000, but Jean Van De Velde’s side found the going tough in the opening fourballs.
Ross Fisher and rookie Scott Jamieson led the way for Great Britain & Ireland, beating Swede Peter Hanson and Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin 6 and 4.
And the rest of the leaderboard was not looking much better for Continental Europe – with Great Britain & Ireland leading in three of the other four games, with Anders Hansen and Francesco Molinari all square with Mark Foster and Lee Westwood.
Former Volvo World Match Play champion Fisher again demonstrated his liking of the format with two birdies in the first four holes at St-Nom-La-Bretèche and won the fifth with a par.
That run, allied with Jamieson’s birdie at the par three third after a tee shot to six feet, put the pair three up.
Jacquelin birdied the second from five feet and won the sixth with a par to remain in contention, but Fisher and Jamieson birdied four out of five holes from the tenth to seal victory.
In the opening game Jamie Donaldson birdied the first two to go two up with last week’s winner Simon Dyson.
Miguel Angel Jiménez - given the honour of hitting the opening shot to honour his friend Ballesteros – birdied the fourth and his compatriot Pablo Larrazabal splashed out to three feet to make it all square with a birdie at the par five seventh.
But Dyson’s first birdie at the eighth helped take Great Britain & Ireland one up with three to play.
In the third match out World Number Two Westwood showed his class with a tee shot to five feet at the third and three wood to six feet at the seventh which set up an eagle.
Hansen, who holed a bunker shot on the fourth only for Westwood to sink a 20 foot putt to halve the hole, birdied the sixth and tenth.
And with Foster and Molinari winning a hole each it remained all square with four holes to play.
Like Donaldson before him, David Horsey began with consecutive birdies to give McGinley’s side an early edge in game four.
Nicolas Colsaerts responded with birdies at the fifth and eighth, but he and Matteo Manassero were two down with five to play as Open Champion Darren Clarke won the sixth and 12th with birdies – the latter from 20 feet.
And in the last game out Robert Rock was in sensational form to go four up with six to play.
Playing with Ian Poulter, Rock birdied five out of six holes from the seventh to hold a commanding advantage over Alex Noren and Thomas Björn.
