Continental Europe lead Great Britain and Ireland 3-2 after the opening day of the inaugural Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi.
Great Britain and Ireland, led by Tommy Fleetwood, trailed in four of Friday’s five fourball matches.
But Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and Ireland’s Seamus Power beat Austria’s Sepp Straka and Poland’s Adrian Meronk 4&3 for their only win, with two more games halved.
“I think it was a good team performance on day one,” Fleetwood said.
“I think in the end, to come out of this 3-2 session, we will definitely go back to our squad rooms feeling better. I just said to the guys, I trust them to get something out of this. the end and be very difficult to get down that last hole.”
Fleetwood and Shane Lowry fought back from three down with nine holes to play Sweden’s Alex Noren and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters before Noren’s birdie on the par five 18 sealed a narrow victory, while England duo Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Smith also lost on 18 to Belgian Thomas Detry and Frenchman Antoine Rozner.
A birdie on 18 from England’s Matt Wallace saw him and fellow countryman Callum Shinkwin halve with Frenchman Victor Perez and Italy’s Guido Migliozzi thanks to Wallace’s birdie on 18, while Richard Mansell also scored a birdie the last to ensure he and Scotsman Ewen Ferguson were halved with the European captain. Francesco Molinari and Dane Nicolai Hojgaard.
“I’m really, really happy and proud of how we started today. My guys were amazing,” Italian Molinari said.
“Obviously it’s a long way to go, but it’s always nice to win a day, win a session. Tomorrow’s challenge is two sessions, so you have to be mentally ready for that.”
The 20 players will be in action on Saturday with two sets of five foursome matches, before 10 singles matches take place on Sunday.
The Hero Cup was introduced to give more players the experience of a team tournament with an eye to the Ryder Cup, which is held every two years between Europe and the United States.
European captain Luke Donald oversees this year’s event as it prepares for the upcoming Ryder Cup in Rome in September.
