The teams have been finalised for the inaugural Hero Cup match, which will take place at Abu Dhabi Golf Club between January 13-15.
The event is very similar, and not without controversy, to the former Seve Trophy – a biennial match play event played between Great Britain & Ireland and Continental Europe, which was last played back in 2013.
It was effectively a chance to give captaincy experience to future Ryder Cup captains such as Colin Montgomerie, Nick Faldo, and Thomas Bjorn amongst others as well experience in team match play for potential Team Europe players. Great Britain and Ireland claimed the title six times from eight events.
The Hero Cup is designed as a warm up for the Ryder Cup and 2023 European captain Luke Donald will oversee the event as he aims to reclaim the trophy Europe last won in 2018 under the leadership of Thomas Bjorn.
Donald has added Antoine Rozner and Richard Mansell to the respective teams, with each side now boasting 10 players. France’s Rozner joins Continental Europe after claiming the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open title by five shots while England’s Mansell is the final player to join the Great Britain and Ireland team having enjoyed his finest year on tour.
Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood will be the playing captains of each team, with the pair going head-to-head after forming a wonderful partnership at the 2018 Ryder Cup – winning all four of their matches together – and they might do so again next year.
The two teams will feature a wide variety of players, including Major winner Shane Lowry and players with Ryder Cup experience like Tyrrell Hatton, Thomas Pieters and Alex Noren. However, the real key part of the Hero Cup is to test out the potential Ryder Cup rookies, who will all be looking to secure a spot on Team Europe. Rozner and Mansell are two of those, along with the likes of Robert MacIntyre, Sepp Straka, Rasmus Hojgaard, Guido Migliozzi, Adrian Meronk, Jordan Smith, Seamus Power and others.
Great Britain and Ireland Hero Cup Team
- Tommy Fleetwod (captain)
- Ewen Ferguson
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Shane Lowry
- Robert MacIntyre
- Seamus Power
- Callum Shinkwin
- Jordan Smith
- Matt Wallace
- Richard Mansell.
Continental Europe Hero Cup team
- Francesco Molinari (captain)
- Thomas Detry
- Rasmus Hojgaard
- Adrian Meronk
- Guido Migliozzi
- Alex Noren
- Victor Perez
- Thomas Peters
- Sepp Straka
- Antoine Rozner.
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