Team Cup: Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood help Great Britain and Ireland to 3.5-1.5 lead in Ryder Cup-style event

Great Britain and Ireland built an impressive 3.5-1.5 lead over Continental Europe after the opening day of the Team Cup, a Ryder Cup-style event in Abu Dhabi.

Playing-captain Justin Rose partnered Matt Wallace in a 3&1 defeat against Romain Langasque and Mathieu Pavon, then watched on as his side finished unbeaten in the other four fourballs matches at the Abu Dhabi Golf Resort.

Tyrrell Hatton played alongside Tom McKibbin – reportedly a future LIV Golf team-mate – as they saw off Antoine Rozner and Julien Guerrier 3&2, while Laurie Canter and Jordan Smith claimed a final-hole victory over Rasmus Hojgaard and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.

Tommy Fleetwood and Aaron Rai came from behind to beat Matteo Manassero and Continental Europe captain Francesco Molinari 4&2, with the other match seeing Matthew Jordan and Paul Waring finish tied against Niklas Norgaard and former Ryder Cup player Thorbjorn Olesen.

GB and Ireland will take a two-point lead into Saturday’s two sessions of foursomes, where all 20 players will be involved in both sessions, with Rose’s team requiring another 9.5 points over the weekend to win the biennial team contest.

“I’m really pleased with that,” Rose said. “Some of the key messaging around the Ryder Cup is get off to a fast start. There was too much blue on the board for my liking, which I was contributing to as well unfortunately, but the team rallied well.”

How Rose’s GB and Ireland moved ahead

Continental Europe never trailed in the top match, as Pavon birdied the first and Langasque converted from a similar distance at the sixth to match the birdie of Wallace. Langasque extended their lead with a stunning eagle hole-out from the eighth fairway and Pavon birdied the ninth to see them reach the turn three ahead.

Rose won successive holes to start the back nine before Pavon birdied the par-three 12th and cancelled out Wallace’s birdie at the 15th by claiming the next, before wrapping up victory on the final hole to give the defending champions their only full point of the session.

“Being paired with Romain was just beautiful and we got the win, so it’s a perfect day,” Pavon said. “It’s not often we play team golf and I know GB and Ireland have a better record than Continental Europe, which we want to change. We won the last Team Cup and want to win this one as well.”

Neergard-Petersen made a chip-in eagle to leave him and Hojgaard one ahead with eight to play, but Smith gave him and Canter control of that contest by winning the next three holes.

The GB and Ireland pair held on for a full point after posting a birdie at the par-five last, while Fleetwood and Rai also recovered from a slow start to record the biggest victory of the day against Molinari and Manassero.

Fleetwood edged them ahead with a birdie at the 11th and Rai rolled in from 15 feet at the 14th to double their advantage, with the pair winning each of the next three holes to ensure Rose’s side would end the opening day with a lead.

McKibbin and Hatton birdied each of their first three holes and only lost one hole, when Guerrier birdied the fifth, with the GB and Ireland pair forming a formidable partnership as they closed out their point with two holes to spare.

“You want to get off to a nice start, you don’t want to give holes away early and we did a really good job of that today,” Hatton said. “We didn’t drop a shot as a team. If they won a hole, they earned it by making birdies. Happy to win a point.”

Who will win the Team Cup? Watch throughout the weekend live on Sky Sports! Live coverage continues on Saturday from 3.30am on Sky Sports Golf, with a second session from 7am. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, majors and more with NOW.