sept30 seve trophy result
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Great Britain and Ireland have retained the Seve Trophy after steamrolling Europe on the final day at The Heritage in Ireland
Starting the day a point down it looked as though GB and Ireland, under the stewardship of Nick Faldo, had all the work to do but they took the fight to Seve’s team, losing just one of the ten singles pairings.
It meant Britian and Ireland won the day 8-2 and therefore the Trophy 16½-11½.
Victory was assured when Bradley Dredge went two up with two to play in Ireland but Phillip Archer’s half against Markus Brier technically won the event.
Colin Montgomerie, who lost all three of his earlier matches in the tournament, won the opening singles for Britain & Ireland 1-up against Robert Karlsson.
Europe’s only win came from Peter Hanson, who beat Oliver Wilson 1 up. Two matches were halved.
“The guys all came through,” Britain & Ireland captain Faldo said. “They showed great determination to win. They all did their bit.”
Faldo will captain Europe’s defending Ryder Cup team in Kentucky next year.
Paul Casey rediscovered his form to beat Raphael Jacquelin 3 and 2 in the second match after making seven birdies in the first 11 holes. Marc Warren, who also struggled earlier in the week, beat Gregory Havret 1 up in the third match.
The winners said they were buoyed by a television prediction Saturday that they would all lose their matches.
“That was a nice bit of motivation right there,” Casey said.
Britain & Ireland’ s biggest victory Sunday came from Graeme Storm, 6 and 5 over Thomas Bjorn. Storm had five birdies without dropping a shot through 13 holes against Bjorn, who was recovering from an upset stomach.
Simon Dyson, one of Faldo’s wild card picks, shot five birdies in 11 holes to rally for a 2 and 1 victory over Mikko Ilonen.
“I loved it all week. We’ve carried each other along and it’s just got better all week,” Dyson said.
Bradley Dredge, the week’s top scorer with 4-1/2 points out of five, beat Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano 2 up with a birdie at the last.
Justin Rose held off Miguel Jimenez 2 and 1 after being five ahead through 11 holes.
Nick Dougherty halved with Soren Hansen and Phillip Archer halved with Markus Brier in the other singles.
“Everything went wrong. I looked at the draw this morning and thought it was perfect,” Europe captain Seve Ballesteros said. “Britain and Ireland played great golf.
“We did too but perhaps they were a little bit better today.”