Filed under: Golf
Jean van de Velde's Continental Europe face a major challenge to overturn a recent poor run in the Vivendi Seve trophy after a tough opening day at St-Nom-La-Bretèche.Great Britain and Ireland have won the last five contests and have taken a firm grip in their bid for another success after cruising into a 4-1 lead after the opening fourballs in France.
Van de Velde's side started the week as favourites to win the trophy for the first time in 11 years, but from the moment Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez hit the opening tee shot in honour of friend and fellow Spaniard Seve Ballesteros, Europe took control.
Paul McGinley the GB & Ireland captain gave up his rights to take the honour in the opening session to honour the legendary Ballesteros, who started the competition in 2000.
McGinley's plan to make sure he paired his rookies with experienced players paid dividends, with Ross Fisher's two Ryder Cups helping him inspire Scott Jamieson to put the first point on the board with an emphatic 6&4 win over Peter Hanson and Raphael Jacquelin.
Simon Dyson built on his impressive KLM Dutch Open victory alongside Jamie Donaldson to take a 2&1 victory over strong Spanish pairing Pablo Larrazabal and Jimenez.
Robert Rock held a string of putts and recorded six birdies in 15 holes, as he and Ian Poulter won 5&3 over Thomas Bjorn and Alex Noren.
"I seemed to find a bit of rhythm with the putter after a few holes and we got around nicely," said Rock.
Poulter, a fierce Ryder Cup competitor, loves the match play format and that inspired him too. "The team environment is great. It was great to play with Rocky today. We got off to a nice start and saw the lines on the greens fairly early.
"Rocky holed a couple of lovely putts and we both dovetailed pretty nicely for the whole day."
Open Champion Darren Clarke and Dave Horsey won 1up against Nicolas Colsaerts and Matteo Manassero and the only bright spot for van de Velde's side came with Francesco Molinari and Anders Hansen 1 up win over world number two Lee Westwood and Mark Foster.
Westwood looked to have halved the match by holing a 20 footer from just off the green at 18 but Molinari matched his birdie by sinking a 10 footer to win the match.
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