FERNANDEZ-CASTANO CALLED INTO SEVE TROPHY MATCH LINE-UP
NEWS RELEASE FROM EUROPEAN TOUR
Spaniard
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño has been called into the Continental Europe
Team for this week’s Seve Trophy by Golf+ as a replacement for the
injured Peter Hanson.
Swede Hanson was forced to withdraw from the biennial contest at St-Nom-La Bretéche Golf Club, in Paris, after succumbing to an on-going back injury that has affected him for most of the
2013 season.
Swede Hanson was forced to withdraw from the biennial contest at St-Nom-La Bretéche Golf Club, in Paris, after succumbing to an on-going back injury that has affected him for most of the
2013 season.
His place in Captain José María Olazábal’s ten-man team to take on Sam
Torrance’s Great Britain & Ireland side will be taken by
Fernandez-Castaño, who makes his third appearance in the contest after
playing in 2007 and 2009.
Hanson said: “I am really disappointed not to be able to play in this
year’s Seve Trophy. Everyone knows how much I love match-play events and
I did everything I possibly could to make José Maria’s team, but it was
not to be.
“My
back has been an issue for pretty much most of the year and it is still
not 100 per cent unfortunately. I have my defence of the BMW Masters in
China coming up in three weeks’ time which is part of the Final Series
on The European
Tour and I want to be in ideal shape for that full run of tournaments,
which meant I had to withdraw from this week.
“It is very unfortunate, but I wish José María and the Continental European team the very best of luck.”
Fernandez-Castaño,
who has won four and lost five of his previous
nine matches in the Seve
Trophy by Golf+, said: “When I got the call I was really excited about
playing in my third Seve Trophy.
“I really enjoyed the two previous contests I played, and it is
important to support a tournament with Seve’s name on it, not only
because of what he did for Spanish golf, but for what he did for the
game in Europe and The European Tour as a whole.
“I wanted to show my respect for him. It was a privilege to play under
Seve in 2007 and under Thomas Björn in 2009, and it is a dream come true
for me now to play in the Seve Trophy with José María as Captain.
“The Continental Europe team looks very strong and it is a great group
of guys are all good friends, so we are really looking forward to the
week ahead.”
Fernandez-Castaño is joined by his fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Jiménez,
Danish duo Thomas Björn and Thorbjørn Olesen, Frenchman Grégory Bourdy,
Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, Finland’s Mikko Ilonen Dutchman Joost
Luiten, and the Italian pair of Matteo Manassero
and Francesco Molinari.
They will take on a Great Britain & Ireland team featuring five
Englishmen; Paul Casey, Tommy Fleetwood, Simon Khan, David Lynn and
Chris Wood, four Scotsmen; Stephen Gallacher, Scott Jamieson, Paul
Lawrie, and Marc Warren, and Welshman Jamie
Donaldson.
The event format will be similar to previous editions, the only slight
alteration coming on Saturday which will now consist of two sessions of
four foursomes contested instead of four morning greensomes followed by
four afternoon foursomes. The rest of the
format remains the same, with a series of five fourball matches on each
of the first two days and ten singles on the final day. As with The
Ryder Cup, a team requires 14½ points for victory.
Continental
Europe won the first edition of the contest 13 years ago, while Great
Britain and Ireland have won the last six matches in succession,
claiming a 15½-12½ success two years ago at St-Nom-La Bretèche Golf
Club, which hosts
the event for the third consecutive time this week.
Labels: EUROPEAN TOUR
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