Vivendi Seve Trophy & Presidents Cup

If you feel there is something missing when it’s not Ryder Cup year then never fear, the team game and the excitement of matchplay can be found elsewhere with the Vivendi Seve Trophy and the Presidents Cup coming up in the next few weeks.

The Vivendi Seve Trophy

Continental Europe vs. Great Britain and Ireland
The Duel, 15-18 September, 2011
Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche (France)

Back in may the Vivendi board suggested to the European Tour that they change the name or just add in ‘Seve’ to the name of the trophy after the late Severiano Ballesteros who really knew, amongst other things, how to develop and support the spirit of match play and Golf as an all-round game.

During the day's press conference, Scott Kelly, Marketing Director of the PGA European Tour emotionally welcomed the change on behalf of the PGA European Tour.

Format:

First two days: Five four-ball matches
Third day: Four greensomes and 4 foursomes matches
Last day: 10 singles matches

The teams:

Even with a few names deciding not to play the two teams can still field a very strong line-up.

Great Britain and Ireland:

Captain – Paul McGinley

Lee Westwood (Eng), Ian Poulter (Eng), Darren Clarke (NI), Simon Dyson (Eng), Ross Fisher (Eng), Mark Foster (Eng), Robert Rock (Eng), Jamie Donaldson (Wal), David Horsey (Eng), Scott Jamieson (Sco).

Continental Europe:

Captain – Jean Van De Velde

Francesco Molinari (Ita), Anders Hansen (Den), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Alex Noren (Swe), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Peter Hanson (Swe).

Fact: On the past five occasions the GB&Ireland team have come out victorious.

The Presidents Cup

International Team vs United States
Royal Melbourne Golf Club, 14-20 November 2011
Melbourne, Australia

The Presidents Cup, which will be played for the ninth time in 2011, was developed to give the world's best non-European players an opportunity to compete in international team match-play competition.

Format:

First day: Six foursomes matches
Second day: Six four-ball matches
Third Day: Five foursomes and five four-ball matches
Final Day: 12 singles matches

Teams

International Team:

Captain Greg Norman will have the top 10 international players (excluding those eligible for the European Ryder Cup team) from the Official World Golf Ranking as of Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011, (through the BMW Championship) qualify.

Then he will add two picks on Monday 26 September.

The team as it stands now:

Jason Day (Aus), Adam Scott (Aus), Charl Schwartzel (RSA) K.J. Choi (ROK), Kyung-tae Kim (ROK), Retief Goosen (RSA), Ernie Els (RSA) Y.E. Yang (ROK), Ryo Ishikawa (JPN) Louis Oosthuizen (RSA).

United States

Captain Fred Couples will have the top 10 U.S. players who earn the most official PGA TOUR money beginning with The Barclays 2009 through the BMW Championship 2011.

Like Norman he will pick two players on Monday 26 September, however one of which has already been confirmed as former world number one Tiger Woods.

Team as it stands now:

Matt Kuchar, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Nick Watney, Webb Simpson, Bubba Watson, Hunter Mahan, Jim Furyk, David Toms.

Fact: The international team have not won since 1998.