Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo, respective captains of Continental Europe and Great Britain and Ireland, have named their wild cards for the fifth edition of the Seve Trophy, to be played at The Heritage Golf & Spa Resort at Killenard, Co. Laois, Ireland from September 27-30.
Ballesteros has named the experienced Dane, Thomas Björn, and Spanish rookie, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, to complete his ten-man line-up. Faldo, next year’s European Ryder Cup Captain, opted for a pair of Seve Trophy newcomers in Simon Dyson of England and Scotland’s Marc Warren.
There will be a total of ten rookies in the two teams for next week’s event, in which Continental Europe attempt to regain the trophy from GB & I. Also making their Seve Trophy debuts will be Phillip Archer, Graeme Storm and Oliver Wilson from England, plus Austria’s Markus Brier, Søren Hansen of Denmark, Frenchman Gregory Havret and Finland’s Mikko Ilonen.
Ballesteros explained the thinking behind his choices of Björn – who will play in the match for the fifth time - and Fernandez-Castaño. He said: “I’m delighted to have someone of Thomas’s experience in the team and we know what a great competitor he is in this format. Gonzalo is one of the most exciting young players on the Tour and I believe he will play a good role in the team. I hope this year we will redress the score in the Seve Trophy series.”
Faldo said: “Captaining the Great Britain and Ireland team offers me a great opportunity to see some of the young players who have been performing well on Tour this season in action at a match play event. This was the most important factor for me when making my wild card selections; with that in mind, these were two obvious choices for me.
“In Marc Warren, I’m bringing a player to the team that has come through a sudden-death play-off to claim each of his four professional wins, proving that he has a cool head under pressure. He has also partnered Monty (Colin Montgomerie) with great success in the World Cup.
“In Simon Dyson, we have a player that has proved that he can perform under the spotlight following a gritty performance at this year’s US PGA Championship. On the whole, I’m delighted with the players that I will be working with next week and wish Seve and his team the very best of luck for the tournament.”
