ABU DHABI, 12th January, 2025 (WAM) -- Great Britain and Ireland completed an emphatic victory at the 2025 Team Cup, defeating Continental Europe 17-8 at Abu Dhabi Golf Resort.

The GB&I side, led by Justin Rose, held a commanding seven-point lead at the start of play, needing just two points to complete their triumph ahead of Sunday's singles session.

Englishman Laurie Canter earned the first point of the afternoon as he beat the previously undefeated Romain Langasque 5&4, and Tommy Fleetwood claimed the crucial winning point for his side, just as the Ryder Cup stalwart did at Marco Simone in 2023, defeating Matthieu Pavon 3&1.

Fleetwood's victory over the Frenchman gave him a perfect record as he ended the event as the only player to win all four of his matches across the three days.

GB&I threatened a rout as they led in nine of the ten matches at one stage during the afternoon, but Continental Europe orchestrated a brave fightback, first with Niklas Nrgaard winning 3&2 against Matthew Jordan, followed by Antoine Rozer and Matteo Manassero, who each won their matches 1Up.
Continental Europe Captain Francesco Molinari came back from two down with seven holes to play to earn half a point against Jordan Smith, and Denmark's Rasmus Hjgaard staged an equally impressive comeback as he battled a three-hole deficit with five to play, halving against Aaron Rai.

Player Justin Rose said, "Huge honour. Loved the challenge of it. Loved the experience of it, and the lads have made me look incredibly good at it. The way they played was first class. We had one clear message, which was to get on the front foot to try to be relentless to play wave after wave. Playing on a big lead, everybody felt like we could get the job done, but just to focus on individual and personal pride, kind of continue the message of the week.

"The leaderboard early in the round was astonishing, really. Every credit to Continental Europe and Francesco himself and the team as a whole. The whole matches were played in great spirit but yeah, my team definitely holed the right putts at the right time and won most of those key matches. You can't simulate the intensity of a Ryder Cup with the crowd and the energy. But at the end of the day, as soon as you put a crest here and you have ten mates right behind you, you want to win. Even practise rounds playing with our mates on tour, you never like to lose. So the intensity is there. The competitiveness is there. Just the environment is hard to simulate. But like I said, I think that competitive match play is so valuable."

Francesco Molinari commented, "I think I probably could have done a slightly better job with the boys. They gave it all they had. Our side was maybe more inexperienced players in this kind of event but they are great guys and they did their best. The GB&I team was just too hard for us this week.

"Definitely not ideal (losing Nicolai Hjgaard to illness). Thomas Bjrn should have been a vice captain, and I think he was a bit sick all week. A few things went wrong from the start of the week. We missed Nicolai. But to be fair, Julien showed up last minute and played some terrific golf. I'm glad the younger guys got exposed to this sort of environment and we'll be back in two years trying to win it back."