Hero Cup: The lineups for the first Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi have been released by Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, who decided to combine youth and experience in both the Continental Europe and Great Britain and Ireland squads.
The three-day match play competition, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports from January 13–15 and take place at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, will give European players practise in the team format before potential future Ryder Cup appearances.
Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari will lead the 10-player teams as playing captains, and Donald has named two additional players on each team with previous Ryder Cup experience as well as a number of rookies who could play for Team Europe in the upcoming Ryder Cup.
In his Great Britain and Ireland lineup, two-time Ryder Cup competitor Fleetwood includes 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry and four-time Rolex Series winner Tyrrell Hatton. The trio all played in last year’s Ryder Cup defeat at Whistling Straits.
Irishman Seamus Power, who is presently in first place in the FedExCup Standings after a stellar start to the PGA Tour season, will play for the GB&Ireland team together with DP World Tour champions Ewen Ferguson, Robert MacIntyre, Callum Shinkwin, Jordan Smith, and Matt Wallace.
Fleetwood expressed his satisfaction with the players who would make up Great Britain and Ireland sides in the upcoming season. Although I believe we are really strong as a team, having Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton’s experience will be invaluable for the rest of the team in a match-play environment.
It will be great to have Seamus [Power] with us after his excellent start to the season in America. We have won some of the biggest DP World Tour events.
In his Continental Europe team, Molinari has 2018 Ryder Cup champion Alex Noren, Belgium’s Thomas Pieters, who gained four points on his Team Europe debut in 2016, and Austria’s Sepp Straka, who made his PGA Tour debut earlier this year.
Along with Victor Perez, Adrian Meronk, Thomas Detry, and Italy’s Guido Migliozzi, who hopes to compete in a home Ryder Cup in September, Rasmus Hjgaard, a three-time DP World Tour champion, is also listed.
The next year, Molinari will captain his side into the Hero Cup. “Our team is packed full of intriguing athletes who all have the ability to excel in a match-play event,” Molinari stated.
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