Martin Dempster tees up Team Cup in Abu Dhabi

Transcript

00:00Hello, it's Martin Dempster, the Scotsman Golf Correspondent here, coming to you from

00:06Abu Dhabi. My first event of 2025 is the Team Cup, a match between Great Britain and Ireland

00:17and continental Europe, formerly known as the Seve Trophy of course. It was held, it

00:26was resurrected actually two years ago as the Hero Cup, in order to try and give Europe

00:34better preparation for the Ryder Cup. The match in 2023, it was won 14.5-10.5 by a continental

00:46Europe team led by former Open champion Francesco Molinari. His opponent on that occasion was

00:53Englishman Tommy Fleetwood. Molinari is back in charge of continental Europe this week

01:00and his opposite number on this occasion is Justin Rose, a Ryder Cup stalwart. Two years

01:10ago, six players who played in the Hero Cup went on to represent Europe in the Ryder Cup

01:19at Marco Simoni in Rome and they of course included Scotland's Bob McIntyre. McIntyre

01:28isn't involved on this occasion, he's in Hawaii where he started his 2025 campaign last week

01:37with a top 15 finish in the Sentry, the PGA Tour's season opener, and he's teeing up in

01:45the Sony Open in Honolulu this week before heading to the Middle East to play in next

01:52week's Hero Dubai Desert Classic. The teams this time, no Scots unfortunately in that

01:59Great Britain and Ireland line-up. Ewan Ferguson also played two years ago, he'll be disappointed

02:07to miss out on this occasion. Rose's side is stacked with English players, including

02:13Paul Waring, who won the HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship towards the end of last year, and also Tommy

02:22Fleetwood, the skipper two years ago, and Tyrrell Hatton. Francisco Molinari's team

02:30includes a posse of Danish players, they've set the golfing world on fire the last few

02:40years and they'll certainly be looking to shine. The Hogeard twins of course have led

02:49the way and they'll both be looking to be in that Ryder Cup team of Bethpage Black against

02:56the Americans in September. To keep up to date with everything about the Team Cup and

03:01other events in the golf world, log on to Scotsman.com or buy the Scotsman.