Great Britain & Ireland win Vivendi Seve Trophy in thrilling finale
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Great Britain & Ireland’s strength and depth proved to be crucial as they hung on for a dramatic victory in the Vivendi Seve Trophy at St-Nom-La-Bretèche.
Trailing 11.5-6.5 overnight, the European Team fought back magnificently on the final day, winning the first five singles matches to square the tie.
But GB&I won four points from the final five matches to hold on for a 15.5-12.5 win and secure their sixth consecutive victory at the biennial event.
GB&I skipper Paul McGinley sent out Lee Westwood in the opening match but after being 3up early on, the world number two lost 2&1 to the in-form Thomas Bjorn.
Englishman Simon Dyson lost to Anders Hansen by 1 hole and both Jamie Donaldson and the birdie-less Robert Rock lost 4&3 to Francesco Molinari and Alex Noren respectively.
To cap a dream start for Jean Van de Velde’s side, Miguel Angel Jimenez defeated Open Champion Darren Clarke 4&2 in match five.
In a spectacular finish, all of the remaining five matches went down the final hole with both teams needing three points for victory.
In match six, big-hitting Nicolas Colsaerts birdied holes 15 and 17 to square his match with England’s David Horsey. Both players parred the final hole to share the point leaving the scores tied at 12 points apiece.
Scott Jamieson defeated Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal 1up to help GB&I regain the lead following match seven of ten.
In the next match, Ian Poulter found himself 1down with three holes to play against Matteo Mannasero, the youngest-ever player to compete in the Seve Trophy. But the Englishman rallied with birdies on 16 and 18 to secure a crucial point for GB&I.
“I needed to do something to finish,” said Poulter. “He [Manassero] hit a great shot and I said to Paul walking down the fairway ‘I’m going to go straight at this’.
“And he’s like ‘hang on a minute, hang on a minute’. It was nice, I did go straight at it in the end against his orders but you know what, it came off.
“They played some great golf obviously, so McGinley came out and said to me on one of the holes ‘it’s looking like it’s pretty much down to your game, so you’d better turn it around’.”
In the last two matches, England’s Mark Foster defeated home-favourie Raphael Jacquelin by one hole while Ross Fisher’s match with Peter Hanson was halved.
