Europe grab shock lead
Captain Colin Montgomerie and Graeme McDowell were the only home winners as holders Britain and Ireland made an awful start to the Seve Trophy at The Wynyard near Middlesbrough today.
Continental Europe, with Jose Maria Olazabal now at the helm, lead 4-1 after the opening fourballs as they try to make amends for their 15-13 defeat in Valencia two years ago.
Montgomerie and McDowell registered the first point of the match, beating the Dutch-Italian combination of Maarten Lafeber and Emanuele Canonica 4&2.
But they then wanted in vain to congratulate any of their team-mates.
Ian Poulter and Nick Dougherty lost on the last to Thomas Bjorn and Henrik Stenson, while Welsh pair Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge suffered a 4&2 defeat to Olazabal and his compatriot Miguel Angel Jimenez.
That left Britain and Ireland relying on the two partnerships which tasted success in the Ryder Cup last year – but there was no repeat.
David Howell and Paul Casey were two up after three on Swedes Niclas Fasth and Peter Hanson before losing 3&2, and then Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley saw a two-hole lead of their own turn into a final green defeat to Frenchmen Thomas Levet and Jean-Francois Remesy.
All square with one to play after Harrington’s 30-foot putt at the short 17th - McGinley had hit his tee shot to within three feet in any case – it came down to whether Remesy and Harrington could hole from nine and seven feet respectively.
Remesy made his and the Dubliner missed.
“We are in a hole – we have a long way to come back from here,” said McGinley, who last Sunday lost to New Zealander Michael Campbell in the final of the HSBC World Match Play at Wentworth.
The match continues with five more fourballs on the second day, followed by four greensomes and four foursomes on Saturday and 10 singles on Sunday. Like the Ryder Cup, 28 points are up for grabs.
