Continental Europe’’s hopes of regaining The Seve Trophy were dealt a blow early on the final day when Thomas Björn was forced to withdraw as a result of a neck injury only minutes before he was due to face Great Britain and Ireland’’s Paul Casey.
Because it happened so late, Casey was awarded the match to put the holders 11-8 ahead. Colin Montgomerie’’s team now need only 3 ½ points from the other nine games to retain the trophy.
As in the Ryder Cup, if players are injured more than 30 minutes before games start then the captain of the unaffected team nominates a player to take a half - the so-called envelope system.
Bjorn, however, thought he might be okay to play and it was only in his final warm-up that it was decided he was not fit enough to carry on.
