January 12, 2023: Great Britain and Ireland Captain Tommy Fleetwood will lead from the front after deciding to join Shane Lowry in the opening fourballs match against Continental Europe’s Alex Noren and Thomas Pieters at the Hero Cup.
The line-up for the opening session of fourball matches were confirmed at a Pairings Ceremony at Abu Dhabi Golf Club and both teams have opted for experience in the first match of the inaugural event.
Belgium’s Thomas Detry and Frenchman Antoine Rozner will represent Team Continental Europe in the second match of the day, with English duo Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Smith their opponents.
Match Three will pit France’s Victor Perez and three-time DP World Tour winner Guido Migliozzi against another all-English pair in Callum Shinkwin and Matt Wallace, before Continental Europe Captain Francesco Molinari teams up with Denmark’s Nicolai Højgaard against Scot Ewen Ferguson and Richard Mansell, of England.
“I think there are some great matches. We’ve been saying all week, there are two very talented teams and there will be some exciting golf played in the next few days,” said Molinari.
“Nicolai is a great player and I like to play with great players, like Tommy. We’ve got guys who are easy to pair up. We might mix it up in the next few days a bit but I think his is the best way to start tomorrow.”
The only fourballs session of the week will conclude with a mixture of proven winners on both the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR, as Austria’s Sepp Straka and Poland’s Adrian Meronk face Irishman Séamus Power and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre.
“We’ve loaded up all the way through really. We have a great team but there are no easy matches. That’s a great team as well but I feel very confident in my guys, like we all do. It’s great to see the pairings finally out and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen,” said Fleetwood.
“I concentrated on our guys but it’s worked out really well. I think the matches look great.”
The Hero Cup will see all 20 players tee it up in all four sessions, with two foursomes sessions taking place on Saturday and the final ten singles matches concluding the event on Sunday. The pairings for the opening foursomes session on day two will be announced following the conclusion of Friday’s play.
The second G4D Tour event of the season, The G4D Tour @ Hero Cup, will also get under way on Friday as ten of the world’s best Golfers with a Disability tee it up at Abu Dhabi Golf Club prior to the commencement of the fourballs matches.
