With just one point separating Continental Europe and Great Britain and Ireland after two days of fourballs, Saturday’s two foursomes sessions were potentially defining ahead of the final day’s singles matches on Sunday. It was an enthralling day, with the Continental side, seeking their first victory in the Seve Trophy since 2000, extending their lead to two points after winning the morning session to lead GB&I by 8 points to 6. However, Sam Torrance’s British team fought back admirably in the afternoon, in what would be a session of tight matches. In the end, after winning the second session 3-1, Great Britain and Ireland drew level with the Continental side, with both sides entering tomorrow’s singles at 9-9.
Continental captain Jose Maria Olazabal has stated that he will use his side’s abysmal record in this competition as an added motivational factor ahead of the singles.
“We lost the session and we played three days of golf, and looks like we start from scratch tomorrow,” said the 2012 European Ryder Cup captain
“What I have kept on saying all week long, is that we have to play the best we can. We have a very strong team facing us, and that we have to play good tomorrow.
”Obviously I want to win it badly, it’s as simple as that. I don't like that record at all and hopefully this group of ten people will be able to achieve that tomorrow.”
Having been two points down after the opening day on Thursday, Sam Torrance has seen his players battle back to level the match. The 60-year-old was extremely positive when he reflected on what had been a profitable day for his team.
“I wanted a lead but we were two points going into the last session of four. Fantastic day for us.”
Torrance once again sent out the Scottish pair of Stephen Gallacher and Paul Lawrie to lead the line, this time taking on Nicolas Colsaerts and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano in both sessions.
On Friday, Gallacher and Lawrie suffered a record 6 and 5 loss in the fourballs to Colsaerts and Castano, but came back from three holes down to halve their foursomes rematch on Saturday morning. With the positive vibes of that comeback behind them, the Scots would race into a four up lead on the Belgian and Spanish duo after 11 holes.
The Continentals battled back, winning the 13th and 15th, but Stephen Gallacher ended any chance of a fight back by converting a tap-in birdie to secure a 2 and 1 victory on the penultimate hole.
Paul Lawrie, the Open champion of 1999, reflected upon a successful day against the partnership that had humbled he and Gallacher on Friday.
“I'm not so sure it's revenge but it's obviously nice to win a point,” said Lawrie. “After getting a heavy defeat the first match against them we wanted to go back up against them so we managed to get a point back and we both played nicely.”
Also playing nicely, for the Continentals, was Joost Luiten and Gregory Bourdy who won both of their matches on Saturday to complete their 100% record together this week. After defeating Jamie Donaldson and Marc Warren on the 17th for a 2 and 1 victory, they came out on top in a tight encounter against Scott Jamieson and Chris Wood on the final hole.
The duo of Donaldson and Warren, however, would respond to that defeat in the morning by defeating the Scandinavian pair of Thomas Bjorn and Mikko Ilonen 2 and 1 in the afternoon.
Paul Casey, who is looking more like the player who once reached third in the world rankings, narrowly lost to Miguel Angel Jimenez and Matteo Manassero on the final hole alongside Tommy Fleetwood. However, in the afternoon, the 36-year-old formed a successful partnership with David Lynn to avenge the defeat by Jimenez and Manassero.
On the 18th, in the final match of the day, Jimenez showed steely nerves for a 49-year-old by holing a par putt from 10 feet, leaving the stage to Lynn. The Englishman would convert his eight-foot putt for par to ensure that the overall score was level.
Afterwards, the two captains submitted their order for the final day’s singles. With the teams tied at 9-9, ten singles matches will determine the fate of the Seve Trophy. 14½ points are required for an outright victory, with the possibility of a tie should both teams finish with 14 points.
On Sunday, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano will take on Jamie Donaldson in the opening match, with Nicolas Colsaerts going up against Paul Casey.
In the media centre, Sam Torrance was asked about his decision to send Donaldson and Casey out in the opening two matches.
“Well, they have played the best golf this week. Donaldson has been fantastic, 10-under, 9 under, 10-under the other day. He plays quickly and I just wanted him out there first, and Casey is just playing fantastic. I couldn't have picked a better man to play against Colsaerts. I think he's their best player. And the rest just fell in beautifully.”
In the 2002 Ryder Cup, Sam Torrance famously elected to send his strongest players out first in the singles against Curtis Strange’s American team at The Belfry. That strategy would ultimately prove to be successful, and Torrance was asked about his thinking behind his order for tomorrow.
“Here it is different and they are all playing great and it was actually quite easy to put them in. As it turned out, amazingly enough, off the sheet, when you get the alphabetical sheet, I went down, went straight to Donaldson first, he was always going to be first out in my mind, and Casey was always going to be second. I thought Fleetwood is just ready for a cracker, so I put him in three and then I put--because it's in alphabetical, he's four, he's five, he's six, he's seven, he's eight, he's nine and he's ten, and the four Scots are right together and it was not planned whatsoever. So that's great for them, too.”
When looking ahead to the prospect of a Sunday shootout, Jose Maria Olazabal calmly stated: “Well, I think they (my players) are ready. They realized today that the Great Britain and Ireland team means business, and they have to be prepared for it tomorrow.”
Sunday Singles Matches
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano v Jamie Donaldson
Nicolas Colsaerts v Paul Casey
Joost Luiten v Tommy Fleetwood
Thomas Bjorn v Chris Wood
Gregory Bourdy v Scott Jamieson
Thorbjorn Olesen v Marc Warren
Matteo Manassero v Stephen Gallacher
Mikko Ilonen v Paul Lawrie
Miguel Angel Jimenez v David Lynn
Francesco Molinari v Simon Khan