GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND DOMINATE ON DAY TWO TO TAKE CONTROL OF TEAM CUP
Great Britain & Ireland look poised to win the 2025 Team Cup after they increased their lead over Continental Europe to seven points after day two at Abu Dhabi Golf Resort.
Leading 3½ – 1½ after Friday’s fourballs session, GB&I won seven and a half of the available ten points during the two foursomes session on Saturday as they moved 11-4 ahead with just the Sunday singles matches left to play.
Tommy Fleetwood built on his incredible foursomes record as he won both sessions, first alongside GB&I Captain Justin Rose in a 2Up victory over Continental Europe Captain Francesco Molinari and Julien Guerrier. Facing the same opposition in the afternoon, he maintained his 100 per cent record with three points from three as he partnered Jordan Smith to a 3&2 win.
Joining Fleetwood on three wins across the three sessions is Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin, who partnered Aaron Rai to a 4&3 victory over Rasmus Højgaard and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and then Matthew Jordan as the pair won 2Up against the other Danish members of Continental Europe, Thorbjørn Olesen and Niklas Nørgaard.
The French pair of Romain Langasque and Matthieu Pavon battled valiantly on day two as they won both their foursomes matches, after also winning their fourball match on Friday. They defeated Laurie Canter and Jordan Smith 3&2 in the morning and then Rai and Rose 4&2 later in the afternoon.
GB&I require just two points to reach the threshold of 13 needed to win the Team Cup. Continental Europe would need to sweep Sunday’s singles session to retain, needing nine points from the final day.
Team Cup Sunday Singles Schedule
| Match 1 10:35 | Matthieu Pavon | vs | Tommy Fleetwood |
| Match 2 10:45 | Thorbjørn Olesen | vs | Tyrrell Hatton |
| Match 3 10:55 | Romain Langasque | vs | Laurie Canter |
| Match 4 11:05 | Julien Guerrier | vs | Justin Rose |
| Match 5 11:15 | Niklas Nørgaard | vs | Matthew Jordan |
| Match 6 11:25 | Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen | vs | Paul Waring |
| Match 7 11:35 | Antoine Rozner | vs | Matt Wallace |
| Match 8 11:45 | Matteo Manassero | vs | Tom McKibbin |
| Match 9 11:55 | Francesco Molinari | vs | Jordan Smith |
| Match 10 12:05 | Rasmus Højgaard | vs | Aaron Rai |
Player Quotes
Justin Rose: Just the way that the leaderboard got more and more and more in our favour as the rounds went on and on and on. I mean, the lads kind of finished every match off, every match off. Every match that got tight we either got back to a halve or turned them around to win matches.
All the tight matches I think we have really maximised, over today. That was my message to the guys last night. We had a full day of golf on Friday, but it was only 20 percent of the point total. You know, today was the big day, ten points up for grabs. Yeah, they have done an unbelievable job just keeping the momentum going.
I’m enjoying the moment right now. I guess I have to come up with definitely a good message. I think that will be to win the session. That has been a bit of a team, just wave after wave, one of McGinley’s lines in 2014. Just keep hitting wave after wave after wave and so far the lads have done that. Obviously for their obvious personal pride, for singles tomorrow, I want to talk about how that changes the dynamic obviously. So we’ll talk about that. But everyone is going to have personal pride tomorrow.
Tommy Fleetwood: I’ve got no answer then. It is partners; it is a nice record to have, I guess. But once again, go out with somebody like Jordan, he is literally a perfect foursomes partner. We had the ball in play all day and although at times it was a little bit frustrating when it was generally me that wasn’t making the putts.
But we were just very relentless tee-to-green today, and we played very well on what I thought was a pretty difficult afternoon, really.
Jordan Smith: I think everyone wants to go out there and get all their points. Yeah, we are looking for a big win tomorrow. Like I said, everyone is going out there to get that point, and the team is feeling good. Everyone is playing great. Yeah, should be a good day tomorrow.
Matthieu Pavon: They told us how important it is to have a quick start this week, and in three matches, we got birdie on the first. It was off to a great start, and then we kind of set a pace and made a couple good shots and dropped a few putts and we kind of stayed in front and ahead of the group all day.
Romain Langasque: Yeah, today we were great today. I think tomorrow is going to be a tough day for us as a team because I think we are way behind. But we have done our best, and I think tomorrow we are going to do our best, as well. As long as we are not done, we have a chance. So we’ll go, we will fight, and we will see what happens. But of course I am very happy to get these three points done, showing that the pairing with Matt is a good idea and we can beat anyone. It was great, and thanks, Matt.
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