Europeans lead 4-1 after fourballs

Captain Colin Montgomerie and Graeme McDowell were the only home winners as Britain and Ireland made an awful start to the Seve Trophy at The Wynyard Club on Thursday.

Continental Europe, with Jose Maria Olazabal now at the helm, holds a 4-1 lead after the opening fourballs.

Within minutes of play finishing Montgomerie gathered his team, which includes six of last year's Ryder Cup heroes, behind closed doors.

"I'm not very happy," he said when he emerged. "There were certain things going on that will remain between ourselves. I said to them 'Come on - this is not quite good enough'.

"I want to make a game of this and we have to play better, as simple as that. They were listening and they are fired up now."

Montgomerie has decided to give each of his five pairs the chance to make amends, but will send them out in a different order.

"I think I am the first captain who has gone 4-1 down and not switched a thing," Montgomerie said. "I felt very confident in my pairings before the start and I feel the same way."

Montgomerie and McDowell registered the first point of the match, beating the Dutch-Italian combination of Maarten Lafeber and Emanuele Canonica 4 and 2.

But that was the high point of the day for Montgomerie's squad as the winners waited in vain to congratulate any of their teammates.

Ian Poulter and Nick Dougherty lost on the last hole to Thomas Bjorn and Henrik Stenson, while Welsh pair Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge suffered a 4 and 2 defeat to Olazabal and his compatriot Miguel Angel Jimenez.

That left Britain and Ireland relying on the two partnerships which tasted success in the Ryder Cup last year - but there was no repeat.

David Howell and Paul Casey were 2-up after three on Swedes Niclas Fasth and Peter Hanson before losing 3 and 2, and then Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley saw a two-hole lead of their own turn into a final green defeat to Frenchmen Thomas Levet and Jean-Francois Remesy.

All square with one to play after Harrington's 30-foot putt at the short 17th, it came down to whether Remesy and Harrington could hole from nine and seven feet respectively.

Remesy made his and the Dubliner missed.

"We are in a hole - we have a long way to come back from here," said McGinley, who last Sunday lost to New Zealander Michael Campbell in the final of the HSBC World Match Play at Wentworth.

The match continues with five more fourballs Friday, followed by four greensomes and four foursomes on Saturday and 10 singles matches on Sunday. Like the Ryder Cup, 28 points are up for grabs.

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