Seve Ballesteros sees the Irish trio of Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley as a major threat to his teams defence of the Seve Trophy at Druids Glen near Dublin this weekend. Continental Europe won the inaugural match at Sunningdale two years ago and Seve is convinced the Irishmen who performed so well at the Masters last weekend will lead the charge on home soil for Great Britain and Ireland.
"Padraig gave a great performance at Augusta to finish in the top five and Paul was very impressive in completing his debut at the Masters in level par," he said. "Darren will be disappointed with his one-over-par total at Augusta, but his earlier showing in Texas (second in the Houston Open) proves how well he's playing at the moment."
"All three Irish players will be keen to show off their match play skills on home soil ahead of the Ryder Cup and that makes them very dangerous opponents."
Both Harrington and Clarke scored two points from a possible four at Sunningdale. Clarke squared his singles contest with Sergio Garcia and Harrington defeated Miguel Angel Jiminez by one hole. McGinley is making his debut.
The Continental Europe team includes Jose Maria Olazabal, who finished fourth in the Masters to be the leading European, plus Thomas Bjorn, who at one under par finished alongside British captain Colin Montgomerie. Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance is also attending the event at Druids Glen as an observer.
"The Seve Trophy event gives me a great opportunity to look at various pairings and how they might work out for the team later in the year," he said. "It also provides those players who have made the Ryder Cup team with the ideal preparation for the contest with the Americans."
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
