Seve Ballesteros made a losing start to his own event as Great Britain and Ireland raced into a 3�-1� lead over Continental Europe on day one of the Seve Trophy. Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal suffered a two-hole defeat to Lee Westwood and David Howell in Thursday's first fourball match in Valencia.
And despite an easy 4&3 victory for Alex Cejka and Raphael Jacquelin over Justin Rose and Ian Poulter, Europe fell behind again when Brian Davis and Paul Casey beat Ignacio Garrido and Miguel Angel Jimenez 2&1.
Fredrik Jacobson and Niclas Fasth halved their match with GB&I captain Colin Montgomerie and Paul Lawrie, and Padraig Harrington and Philip Price completed a two-hole win over Thomas Bjorn and Sergio Garcia.
 | EUROPE 1�-3� GB&I Olazabal/Ballesteros lost to Westwood/Howell (2 holes) Garrido/Jimenez lost to Davis/Casey (2&1) Cejka/Jacquelin beat Rose/Poulter (4&3) Jacobson/Fasth halved with Lawrie/Montgomerie Bjorn/Garcia lost to Price/Harrington (2 holes) |
The biennial competition, which was devised by Ballesteros three years ago, is pitting many players from the winning 2002 European Ryder Cup team against each other in a matchplay format.
There will be five more fourball matches on Friday, four greensomes and four foursomes on Saturday, and all 10 players will be involved in singles matches on Sunday.
Montgomerie, who will try to break his Seve Trophy singles duck against Ballesteros when the two cross swords for the third time on Sunday, was happy with his team's display.
"It was really tense and good competition too," said Montgomerie, who has admitted he may rest himself on Saturday to be ready to face Ballesteros.
"It's a great event, we've got good weather and it's a fantastic golf course."
Ballesteros, who finished 279th on the Order of Merit this season, admitted he and Olazabal had not been able to match Westwood and Howell.
"I'm very happy with my game and I was feeling optimistic," he said. "But Lee and David played fantastic, shooting something like 62 with the best ball.
"It was tremendous golf but they just played a little bit better."
The tournament has been rescheduled in back-to-back years to avoid clashing with the Ryder Cup, which switched to even years after the 11 September terrorist attacks caused the postponement of the 2001 event.
Great Britain & Ireland won last year's tournament at Druid's Glen Golf Club in Ireland, beating Europe 14� -11�.
Europe won the inaugural event 13�-12� at Sunningdale in England.
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
It was tremendous golf but they just played a little bit better 
