Great Britain and Ireland held off a spirited last-day rally by Continental Europe to win the Vivendi Seve Trophy 15.5 to 12.5.
Paul McGinley’s team went into the singles in Paris needing just three of the ten points on offer, but by midday, the scores were level at 11-and-a-half points apiece.
Great Britain and Ireland secured a thrilling victory after wins for rookie Scott Jamieson, Ian Poulter and Mark Foster, with the last match between Ross Fisher and Europe’s Peter Hanson finishing all square.
Jean van de Velde’s Europeans put themselves right back in contention by winning the first five singles to square the match to give them hope of ending their 11-year wait for the trophy.
Thomas Bjorn led the fightback for Van De Velde’s side, coming from three down to beat Lee Westwood 2&1. The in-form Dane holed a 30 foot putt on the 14th to lead for the first time and when Westwood pulled his approach left in to thick rough on the 17th and duffed his first chip, it was all over.
“It was just a case of hanging on and hanging on, but a couple of mistakes and it let me back in,” said Bjorn. “I played some nice stuff near the end but it was a hard-fought battle.”
There were also gritty wins for Anders Hansen, by one hole against Simon Dyson; Francesco Molinari 4&3 against Jamie Donaldson; Alexander Noren 4&3 against Robert Rock and Miguel Angel Jimenez 4&2 against British Open champion Darren Clarke.
At this stage, both sides needed three points from the last five matches, all of which went to the final hole on a nailbiting day. But McGinley’s lower order then came good, with David Horsey taking a half a point from his match up with Nicolas Colsaerts.
Jamieson then beat Pablo Larrazabal by one hole, with Poulter denying Matteo Manassero by the same margin and Mark Foster defeating Raphael Jacquelin also by one hole.
“It feels amazing and I’m pleased for the boys,” said Foster. “I was playing really well and then lost the pace of green for four or five holes and I left Raphael back in and I knew I was in for a game then and I had to refocus. It would have hurt a lot if we hadn’t won today and I’m glad to pull through.”
Victorious skipper McGinley added: “Lucky I had the team well balanced out, and had not just experience but guys in form balanced throughout the team, so they came through in the end.
“Scott Jamieson’s match was huge, that kind of turned the tide in our favour. I get a huge sense of satisfaction seeing someone like Scott or David Horsey coming though the way they did. Mark Foster as well.”
