José María Olazábal and Sam Torrance have both gone with form from the front for the final round singles in the Seve Trophy by Golf+.
With the contest intriguingly poised at 9-9 ahead of the ten singles rubbers at Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche after a Great Britain & Ireland fightback in the foursomes, Olazábal has sent out Gonzalo-Fernandez-Castaño, Nicolas Colsaerts and Joost Luiten in the first three games.
Fernandez-Castaño and Colsaerts recorded a record 6 and 5 victory in the fourballs on Friday afternoon, while Luiten has garnered four points out of four in tandem with Gregory Bourdy.
Spaniard Fernandez-Castaño will face Welshman Jamie Donaldson in the opening contest, before Colsaerts faces Paul Casey – who teamed up with David Lynn to produce a dramatic late win in the foursomes to level the contest.
Luiten has the chance to become the first player in Seve Trophy history to take five points in a single event when he faces England’s Tommy Fleetwood.
“They have played the best golf this week,” said Torrance, when asked about his decision to send out Donaldson and Casey at the top of the order.
“Donaldson has been fantastic. He plays quickly and I just wanted him out there first, and Casey is just playing fantastic. I couldn't have picked a better man to play against Colsaerts - I think he's their best player.”
Chris Wood comes up against veteran Thomas Björn in the fourth tie, before Scott Jamieson looks to prevent Gregory Bourdy taking an unprecedented fifth point.
Marc Warren and Stephen Gallacher complete an all-Scottish middle order for Great Britain & Ireland, and they play youngsters Thorbjørn Olesen and Matteo Manassero respectively.
Torrance has kept experienced trio Paul Lawrie, David Lynn and Simon Khan to fill the last three slots, with Lawrie facing Mikko Ilonen and Lynn up against Miguel Angel Jiménez.
Olazábal will be hoping that Francesco Molinari can produce the sort of heroics that saw him beat Tiger Woods to complete Europe’s Ryder Cup win in Medinah, as he sends the Italian out against Khan in the anchor game.
