Golfing legend Severiano Ballesteros has announced that he will host the Seve Trophy contest in the Tees Valley later this year, while his long-term Ryder Cup partner José Maria Olazábal takes over the captaincy of the Continental Europe team attempting to win back the trophy from Great Britain & Ireland.
The five-time Major winner confirmed that injury problems would prevent him from leading the Continental Europe team at The Wynyard Club from September 22-25 and contesting another singles match against the Great Britain & Ireland captain, Colin Montgomerie, who leads the series 2-1.
“I am very sad that injuries prevent me from playing in the Seve Trophy this year, said Seve. “I had hoped to square the series of singles matches against Colin, but it was not to be.
“However, I look forward to attending the event in the North East of England, taking part in the opening ceremony and presenting the trophy to the winning team. I can’’t think of a better leader of the Continental Europe team than my friend José Maria. I believe he will prove a great captain during what is always an exciting and competitive contest between Europe’’s top players.”
Commenting on his captaincy, José Maria Olazábal said: “I am very proud to be named as captain of the Continental Europe team to play in this year’’s Seve Trophy event and look forward to leading a strong team against Great Britain & Ireland.
“I have always really enjoyed playing in the Ryder Cup format of the Seve Trophy and hope to play a big part in winning back the trophy,” he added.
José Maria has been a member of the Continental Europe team in each of the previous three contests – in the victorious team at Sunningdale in 2000, as well as the losing teams at Druids Glen in 2002 and Valencia in 2003. His current record in the event stands at: played 14, won 5, halved 3 and lost 6.
The four-day event - widely acknowledged as the breeding ground for Europe’’s Ryder Cup stars of tomorrow – will boast the most star-studded line up of golfing talent ever assembled in the North East of England, including many of last year’’s triumphant European Ryder Cup team. Qualifying for the event ends on September 5 and each captain has one wild card pick to add to the top four players from both the Official World Rankings and the European Tour Order of Merit.
George O’’Grady, Executive Director of the European Tour, said: “We are pleased to see such a strong and experienced matchplay competitor like José Maria take over the captaincy of the Continental Europe team and are grateful to Seve for making what must be a painful decision in the best interests of the other players as well as the event that is rightly named after him.”
Commenting on behalf of the main sponsor of the event, Alan Clarke, Chief Executive of regional development agency One NorthEast, said: “We will be delighted to see Seve in person during the event and look forward to giving José Maria and Colin and their respective teams a very warm welcome to the North East.”
The Wynyard Club Managing Director, Gary Munro said: “We are sorry that Seve is unable to play on our new, improved course, but thrilled that he will host the event and have more opportunity to meet the golf fans in the North East who can’’t wait to see such great golfers competing in the Seve Trophy.”
