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Continental Europe lead Great Britain and Ireland 3-2 after the opening day of the inaugural Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi.
Great Britain and Ireland, led by Tommy Fleetwood, trailed in four of Friday’s five fourballs matches.
But Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and Seamus Power of Ireland beat Austria’s Sepp Straka and Poland’s Adrian Meronk 4&3 for their only win, with two other matches halved.
“I think it was a good team performance on the first day,” said Fleetwood.
“I think in the end, to get out of that session 3-2 we’ll definitely go back to our team rooms feeling the better. I just said to the guys, I trust them to get something out of it at the last and be very tough coming down that last hole.”
Fleetwood and Shane Lowry fought back from three down with nine holes to play against Swede Alex Noren and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters before Noren’s birdie on the par-five 18th sealed a narrow win, while English duo Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Smith also lost on the 18th to Belgium’s Thomas Detry and France’s Antoine Rozner.
A birdie on the 18th from England’s Matt Wallace ensured he and compatriot Callum Shinkwin halved with France’s Victor Perez and Italy’s Guido Migliozzi thanks to Wallace’s birdie on the 18th, while Richard Mansell also birdied the last to ensure he and Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson halved with Europe captain Francesco Molinari and Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard.
“I’m really, really happy and proud of how we started today. My guys did amazing,” said Italian Molinari.
“Obviously it’s a long way to go but it’s always nice winning a day, winning a session. The challenge tomorrow is two sessions so you need to be mentally ready for that.”
All 20 players will be in action on Saturday with two sets of five foursomes matches, before 10 singles matches take place on Sunday.
The Hero Cup has been introduced to give more players more experience of a matchplay team tournament with an eye on the Ryder Cup, which is staged biennially between Europe and the United States.
Europe captain Luke Donald is overseeing this year’s event as he prepares for the next Ryder Cup in Rome in September.
