Captain Francesco Molinari led from the entrance as Continental Europe beat favourites Great Britain and Ireland by 4 factors within the Hero Cup.
Molinari went out first in Sunday’s singles towards Shane Lowry and got here out on prime in a heavyweight battle of former Open champions with a 3&2 victory at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
GB&I captain Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton hit again with wins over Thomas Pieters and Antoine Rozner respectively, however victories for Nicolai Hojgaard – a late substitute for twin brother Rasmus – Adrian Meronk, Sepp Straka, Victor Perez and Guido Migliozzi sealed victory by 14.5 to 10.5.
The competitors successfully fills the hole left by the Seve Trophy, which was held eight occasions between 2000 and 2013 and gave captaincy expertise to future Ryder Cup skippers Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal, Nick Faldo, Paul McGinley and Thomas Bjorn.
Current Europe captain Luke Donald oversaw the competition and Molinari believes it is going to have offered invaluable expertise forward of September’s bid to regain the trophy in Rome.
“Invaluable, really, especially for the younger guys,” mentioned Molinari, who partnered Fleetwood to 4 wins within the 2018 Ryder Cup and likewise beat Phil Mickelson within the singles for an ideal 5-0 document.
“But even for us, to play match play, just get the juices going early this early in the year, it’s a great event. We really enjoy it. The DP World Tour has done a great job at setting it up. Obviously the crowds have enjoyed it as well.
“I think we played some really good golf all in all, so hopefully we can do it again next year or the year after. It’s been great all week, super happy for the guys. It’s been very, very easy leading them and being a captain for them.”
Molinari received three and a half factors from his 4 matches and when requested about making Donald’s crew for Rome, mentioned: “It’s a great motivation for me.
“I think I just need to be careful, because it’s still a long way away. I just need to focus on my game, but it’s definitely been a lot better than it has. Being in Rome would be absolutely incredible.”
A dissatisfied Fleetwood mentioned: “We obviously came here to win and wanted to do it for each other. The first thing I said at the start of the week was ‘your team-mates don’t remember if you play bad, miss a putt or lose a point’.
“But everybody remembers if you don’t give 100 per cent and I couldn’t have asked for any more from anybody this week.
“It’s been an amazing experience for me and I’ve loved playing with my team-mates. But they clearly deserved it this week, they played the best golf and the winning team makes those moments count.”
