February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By John Manley
The inaugural Seve Ballesteros Trophy pitted an Irish-British team against a team comprising golfers from the European mainland in a Ryder Cup-styled competition. Europe took the trophy 13 -12 at Sunningdale, England. The decisive match was a 2 and 1 victory by Ballesteros, himself, over Colin Montgomerie. Darren Clarke halved his Sunday afternoon match with Sergio Garcia, while Padraig Harrington was a 1 up winner over Miguel Angel
Jimenez.
Sunday morning fours found the team of Harrington and Phillip Price halving their match with Alex Cejka and Robert Karlsson, while Clarke and Lee Westwood were pounded by Bernhard Langer and Thomas Björn, 4 and 3.
The event began on Friday morning with Harrington and Price defeating Björn and Karlsson, 1 up, after having been 2 down with four holes to go. Clarke and Westwood were 4 and 3 winners over Cejka and Langer. Afternoon play saw Clarke and John Bickerton lose their match to Björn and Jimenez, when Clarke missed a birdie putt on the last hole. Clarke and Westwood notched a point on Saturday afternoon with a 3 and 1 win over Cejka and Jean Van de Velde.
Montgomerie, who captained the Irish-British contingent, complimented the up-and-coming Harrington.
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"Padraig is in superb form, and he’s growing into a real star, someone you can really trust to come through," said Montgomerie.
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John Kernohan had his best showing of 2000, a 14th-place tie in the Shreveport Open at the Southern Trace Country Club in Shreveport, La.
Kernohan opened with a 67 and a piece of third place, but then fell out of the hunt with a second round 73. He crept back up the leaderboard with rounds of 70 and 69 to finish at nine-under-par 279. Kent Jones’s 273 was the
winning score. Kernohan earned $7,400.
Keith Nolan missed the cut in this event by one shot. He carded a 144 (74-70) over two rounds.