Britain & Ireland up 3½-1½ over Continental Europe in Ryder Cup warmup event

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Britain & Ireland took a 3½-1½ lead over Continental Europe after the opening day’s fourballs at the Team Cup, an event giving European players a taste of match-play golf they might experience at the Ryder Cup in New York later this year.

One of the points earned for Britain & Ireland came from Tyrrell Hatton and Tom McKibbin, a pairing comprising a current LIV Golf player and someone who might soon be joining the breakaway Saudi circuit.

Hatton and McKibbin beat Antoine Rozner and Julien Guerrier 3&2 while the pairing of Tommy Fleetwood and Aaron Rai was another big winner for Britain & Ireland, defeating Italians Francesco Molinari and Matteo Manassero 4&2.

Molinari is the captain of Continental Europe, which won the event in 2023 — when it was called the Hero Cup — by a score of 14½-10½.

Only two of the five matches on Friday reached the 18th hole at Abu Dhabi Golf Resort. Jordan Smith and Laurie Canter halved the last hole to secure a 1-up win for Britain & Ireland over Rasmus Hojgaard and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, while Continental Europe pairing Thorbjorn Olesen and Niklas Norgaard had a tie with Matthew Jordan and Paul Waring.

The only win for Continental Europe was supplied by Frenchmen Matthieu Pavon and Romain Langasque, who beat Justin Rose — Britain & Ireland’s captain — and Matt Wallace 3&1.

The event was formerly called The Seve Trophy and was played eight times from 2000-13, with Britain & Ireland winning six of those times and Continental Europe twice.

Six of the 20 players and captains from the 2023 edition wound up playing the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone outside Rome, when Europe won to reclaim the cup.

The next Ryder Cup is at Bethpage Black in September.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf