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| Press Release - 18 September 2007 TEAMS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2007 SEVE
TROPHY Europe’s 2008 Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo will have the chance to study the team match play credentials of several up and coming European golfers when he captains Great Britain & Ireland against Continental Europe in the fifth edition of The Seve Trophy at The Heritage Golf & Spa Resort at Killenard, Co. Laois next week (27-30 September). There will be 10 newcomers to The Seve Trophy competing across the two teams, including Nick Faldo’s picks of Englishman Simon Dyson and Scotland’s Marc Warren and Seve’s selection of the exciting Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño. The other wildcard player in Seve’s team is Thomas Björn, making his fifth appearance in the event. Also making their Seve Trophy debuts will be Ryder Cup hopefuls Graeme Storm, Phillip Archer and Oliver Wilson from England, plus Finland’s Mikko Ilonen, Denmark’s Søren Hansen, Frenchman Grégory Havret and Austria’s Markus Brier. The debutants have nine Tour titles between them this season. Commenting on his two wildcard selections, Nick Faldo said: “Captaining the Great Britain and Ireland team offers me a great opportunity to see some of the young players who have been performing well on tour this season in action at a match play event. This was the most important factor for me when making my wild card selections; with that in mind, these were two obvious choices for me. “In Marc Warren, I’m bringing a player to the team that has come through a sudden-death playoff to claim each of his four professional wins, proving that he has a cool head under pressure. He has also partnered Monty with great success in the World Cup. In Simon Dyson, we have a player that has proved that he can perform under the spotlight following a gritty performance at this year’s US PGA Championship. On the whole, I’m delighted with the players that I will be working with next week and wish Seve and his team the very best of luck for the tournament.” Seve explained his thinking behind his choices of Björn and Fernandez-Castaño. “I’m delighted to have someone of Thomas’ experience in the team and we know what a great competitor he is in this format. Gonzalo is one of the most exciting young players on the Tour and I believe he will play a good role in the team. I hope this year we will redress the score in the Seve Trophy series.”
Great Britain & Ireland Continental Europe
They compete in fourballs, foursomes, greensomes and singles
matches over the four days and play for prize money of €2m, with
the winners sharing a €1.25m purse. The 5-star HERITAGE GOLF & SPA RESORT, with its 7,319
yard, par 72 parkland course an hour from Dublin is staging the Seve Trophy
contest in this year and again in 2009. The course was co-designed by
Seve and Jeff Howes. It features 98 bunkers and its five lakes and a stream
bring water into play on 10 holes. It was selected by Golf World in June
2005 as one of the best new courses in Great Britain & Ireland and
staged the AIB Irish Seniors Open in 2005. The resort also boasts a 125-bedroom
hotel and luxury health spa, plus Tickets to see Europe’s top golfers battle it out are now on sale from Ticketmaster on 0818 719392 or at www.ticketmaster.ie . - ends - For further information contact:
John Collard, Media Director or Kate Ferguson, Press Officer, for The
Seve Trophy on +44 (0)20 8971 9230 or at johnc@sports-impact.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Press Release - 13 June 2007 OCEÂNICO BECOMES OFFICIAL PARTNER OF THE SEVE
TROPHY Oceânico, the international property, golf and leisure resort group, has signed to become an Official Partner of this year’s Seve Trophy event being staged at The Heritage Golf & Spa Resort in Killenard, Co Laois in September (27-30). The commitment to the Seve Trophy contest represents Oceânico’s first sponsorship of a world-class golf event. The group owns a number of upmarket golf resorts across Europe, including courses promoted by Darren Clarke and designed by Christy O’Connor Jr, Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo. The Seve Trophy pits the best golfers in Great Britain & Ireland against a team representing Continental Europe over four days of Ryder Cup-style matchplay. The two teams will be captained this year by Nick Faldo, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain in 2008, and golfing legend Seve Ballesteros, who played a significant role in designing The Heritage championship course. As an Official Partner for the event, Oceânico has
chosen The Seve Trophy as the platform for promoting its expanding golfing
portfolio. Commenting on behalf of Oceânico, Director Simon Burgess
said: “Oceânico is proud to be associated with an event
that features so many of Europe’s best and most famous golfers going
head to head. The Seve Trophy produces the kind of golf that thrilled
Irish crowds and television viewers at last year’s Ryder Cup and
we expect to see another great contest that highlights the quality in
European golf.”
Oceânico is looking to enhance a promotional campaign for the event that already includes advertising displays at Dublin airport and on selected tram stations around the city, sponsorship of a race at The Curragh and the deployment of three branded jeeps at various sporting events in Ireland. Europe has remained undefeated in Ryder Cup matches since the Seve Trophy was first played in 2000, with many European rookies cutting their teeth on team matchplay at Seve Trophy events. Great Britain & Ireland lead 3-1 in the series of contests that have been played at Sunningdale (2000), Druids Glen (2002), El Saler, Valencia (2003) and The Wynyard, North East England (2005). Players currently in the running for Seve Trophy team spots include Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Paul Casey, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Bradley Dredge, Simon Dyson and Nick Dougherty; Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, José Maria Olazábal, Robert Karlsson, Raphaël Jacquelin, Anders Hansen, Markus Brier and Miguel Angel Jiménez. The top four players in World and European Tour rankings qualify for either team and each captain has two picks. Details of Oceânico, the Seve Trophy
and The Heritage Golf & Spa Resort can be found at www.oceanicogroup.com
and www.theheritage.com. - ends - For further information contact:
John Collard, Media Director for The Seve Trophy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Press Release- 21 March 2007 As from today tickets for the Seve Trophy at The Heritage
Golf & Spa Resort are on sale.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL, clica aquí! Press Release- 16 November 2006 Golfing legend Seve Ballesteros today claimed that Ireland’s golf fans have a vital role to play in helping Europe retain the Ryder Cup trophy in 2008. In launching the Seve Trophy 2007 event at The Heritage Golf & Spa Resort at Killenard, Co. Laois today, Seve praised the level of support that Irish fans had given Ian Woosnam’s team and said they could give many of the same players a big lift when they play in next year’s Seve Trophy contest – the only other time they would play in a similar team format ahead of the next Ryder Cup match in Kentucky. The Seve Trophy pits Europe’s the leading players in a team match play event between Continental Europe and Great Britain & Ireland. The next event will be played at The Heritage, a course that Seve co-designed, between 27-30 September next year when Europe’s next Ryder Cup captain, Nick Faldo, will come up against Seve as opposing non-playing captains in the Seve Trophy. “Irish golf fans already had a great reputation for their tremendous enthusiasm for the game of golf, but the first ever Ryder Cup played in Ireland proved just how supportive they are of our players,” said Seve. “Players on both sides of the Seve Trophy 2007 teams will be among those who qualify for the next Ryder Cup team and Irish fans can really inspire them to go on and make it four wins in a row, especially if there are one or two rookies in the two teams as there have been in other years,” he added. Europe has been undefeated in Ryder Cup matches since the Seve Trophy series began in 2000. During that time, rookies like Paul McGinley, David Howell, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson have gained valuable experience of team match play in Seve Trophy contests before making their Ryder Cup debuts. Qualification for the Seve Trophy teams began last weekend
at the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, China. The top four players
on both the World rankings and European Order of Merit make the respective
teams automatically and each captain has two picks to make up the 10-man
teams. The teams play for prize money of €2m, with the winners sharing
a €1.25m purse. The current score between the teams stands at 3-1 to Great Britain & Ireland. The top-scoring player in the Seve Trophy is Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, with 11.5 points from all four events, ahead of England’s Lee Westwood (10) and David Howell (9). The best-scoring Continental Europe player is Spain’s Miguel Angel Jiménez with 8 points. The 5-star HERITAGE GOLF & SPA RESORT, with its 7,319
yard, par 72 parkland course just a hour from Dublin will stage the Seve
Trophy contest in 2007 and again in 2009. Next year’s event is matched
up against the Presidents Cup in America, so the world’s leading
golfers will be competing that week. “There were many other venues interested in staging the Seve Trophy, but I would like to express my thanks to Tom Keane and his team at The Heritage for the effort they made to guarantee that the next two events are held in Ireland. They did a great job and deserve a lot of credit,” said Seve. Commenting on next year’s event, Tom Keane said: “Staging the Seve Trophy event at The Heritage is another huge boost for Ireland, as well as the profile of the resort itself. The Seve Trophy has become one of the biggest competitions in European golf and attracts the top players, plus the great man himself. Coupled with the involvement of Europe’s next Ryder Cup captain and extensive media coverage, this offers sponsors a great opportunity to identify with a major event.” - ends - For further information contact:
John Collard, Media Director for The Seve Trophy
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Pictured at the announcement were Gerry Fagan co-owner of the Oceânico Group and Donagh Davern General Manager of the Heritage Golf & Spa Resort. |
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