"I still can't f***ing putt!"
Open champion Darren Clarke. Picture Credit / Phil INGLIS / www.golffile.ieWhen Darren Clarke tees it up for captain Paul McGinley in next week’s Vivendi Seve Trophy it will be his first playing appearance in a team situation since he played so magnificently for Europe in the 2006 Ryder Cup at The K Club.
The reigning Open champion won three points out of three that week and may well be expected to produce a similar performance for McGinley’s GB&I side at Saint-Nom-la-Breteche near Paris.
Exactly which Darren turns up remains to be seen, if coach Pete Cowen’s amusing account of the goings on at Royal St George’s earlier this year are any indication.
Rory begins wheelbarrrow run
Rory McIlroy in Crans. Picture: Golffile/Fran CaffreyRory McIlroy won’t be paying homage to the late Seve Ballesteros by teeing it up for Paul McGinley’s Great Britain and Ireland side in the Vivendi Seve Trophy later this month.
“Unfortunatley not,” he said in Switzerland, where he headlines the €2 million Omega European Masters with stablemates Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood and world No 5 Martin Kaymer. “I have got a few sponsor commitments and I have got such a busy end to the year.
McGinley resigned to "no-shows" at Vivendi Seve Trophy
Paul McGinley knows he will be without many of the top GB&I players in Paris next month. Picture by golffile.iePaul McGinley believes he will have to prove himself all over again when he skippers a decimated Great Britain and Ireland in next month’s Vivendi Seve Trophy in Paris.
The 44-year old Dubliner is resigned to the reality that he will be asked to advance his Ryder Cup captaincy credentials with a team weakened by no-shows for the second edition in a row.
McGinley and Van de Velde to captain Vivendi Seve Trophy teams
Paul McGinley made a successful debut as captain in 2009. Credit: Getty Images.Paul McGinley has been reappointed as skipper of the Great Britain and Ireland side to face Continental Europe when the Vivendi Seve Trophy returns to St- Nom- la Bretèche in Paris from September 15–18.
Jean Van de Velde will captain Continental Europe in the biennial contest which was instigated by the late Seve Ballesteros in 2000 as a team competition to be contested in non-Ryder Cup years.