Seve Trophy Update: Europe dominated today's morning's Seve Trophy greensomes session 3.5-1.5, to move three points clear against Britain and Ireland.
Seve Ballesteros's team lead Nick Faldo's side 8.5-5.5 going
into the afternoon's foursomes.
A hole in one by Frenchman Gregory Havret and an eagle-two by
Scandinavian pair Soren Hansen and Peter Hanson were the
highlights.
Havret's hole-in-one with a four-iron on the 189-yard short
seventh proved the prelude to a 2 and 1 success over Nick Dougherty
and Graeme Storm.
The Frenchmen preserved their 100 per cent record despite
being caught and passed. A three-birdie charge from the 15th saw
them home. The duo are now the only pair with all three points.
"Rafa hit a very nice shot and I felt full of confidence,"
Havret said, "and then he asked me to hit the best shot I could.
"Seve and Faldo were both watching. Maybe that's a good
pointer (for Ryder Cup captain Faldo) for next year, my first
official hole in one."
Dane Hansen drove the green at the 332-yard 11th and Sweden's
Hanson holed the putt to put them ahead for the first time against
Britons Oliver Wilson and Simon Dyson and the Scandinavians
clinched a one-hole success when Hansen holed a 30ft birdie putt on
the last.
Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano took advantage of a late
call-up to the morning session, following Dane Thomas Bjorn's
withdrawal because of a stomach upset, to seal his first point.
A rousing back nine by the Spaniard with Swede Robert
Karlsson in the first match that produced four birdies and an
eagle, allowed them to finish at the 17th with the event's highest
world-ranked players, Justin Rose and Paul Casey.
A dawn telephone call from Ballesteros broke the news to
Fernandez-Castano that he was in for no lie-in, after the Spanish
player had had a restless night.
"At 1.30am I had to change rooms because a baby was crying,
then the phone rang at 6am and it was Mr Ballesteros telling me
about Thomas's predicament," Fernandez-Castano said.
"I then had to get up sharply to have time to warm up for a
7.50am tee off."
Austrian Markus Brier sealed an unlikely half point in the
last match, with a swinging 30 feet putt on 18. Two down with three
to play, Brier and Finn Mikko Ilonen birdied the final two holes
against Bradley Dredge and Phillip Archer.