Clash of egos marred the third Seve Trophy Golf

The third Seve Trophy proved to be just like the two that preceded it, a mighty clash of egos resulting in an inevitable explosion. It is the rare occasion that players (and caddies) get to spend time together as a team in what should be a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

There is always concern that an event with no history or traditional rivalry will be treated as a junket by the participating players. They have obviously earned plenty during the season in order to make the team, enough maybe to take the sting out of their commitment to winning.

Not so - these golfers like any other top sports people are competitive by nature. Get them in a head-to-head situation, even for a fiver, and they desperately want to win.

So when a senior member of the European team suggested that his fellow team-mates did not have a serious enough attitude for his liking he created an uneasy air in the Continental camp. He also showed a complete lack of understanding of the general attitude of his colleagues.

On Tuesday last the European team played a practice round together in an attempt to build team spirit. By that afternoon only three of the Britain and Ireland team had checked into their rooms at the on-site hotel. If there was a doubt about seriousness the question mark should have hung over the Britain and Ireland locker-room.

On order-of-merit paper the B&I team were much stronger. Their earnings far exceeded those of the European team. It is a common mistake though to predict matchplay outcomes based on four-round tournament records. This seems to be why the Ryder Cup forecasted mismatches are usually so wrong. The subtleties of matchplay make it far less predictable over 18 holes head to head, world rankings can be misleading.

Perhaps the B&I team had an added advantage of already "hanging out" together at regular tour events week to week. Whereas the Europeans tend to set up enclaves and separate themselves by nation.

There can be speculation about the compatibility of teams and who was likely to gel more, but there can be little doubt that B&I's biggest advantage was having Seve Ballesteros as their opposing captain. It seemed by the reports from the European camp that Seve has zero empathy with anyone other than himself.

The Seve Trophy is indeed his party and nobody was going to spoil the host's self-indulgence. Without tiring you with one of the greatest golfers of all time's recent decline, any captain who genuinely wanted to win would not pick himself in abysmal form to play unless he really had to.

The format was different this year than it was in the previous two events. At Seve's suggestion all 10 players were to play in the first two days of fourballs. Two players sat out the greensome and foursome matches on the third day.

Not only was it ridiculous that Seve would want to play in the fourballs, but to put himself in the greensomes ahead of the in-form Miguel Angel Jimenez is beyond belief. Unless of course you understand the nature of the man.

Seve arguably sacrificed victory for Continental Europe by making sure he gave himself a game. Seve played four matches and without scaring the bookies scored no points. There was some serious European caddie-grumbling going on at night in the hotel bar in downtown Valencia, where most of us porters were residing for the week.

It could be argued that us toters on both teams showed more camaraderie and team spirit than many members of the European playing side. Many caddies shared rooms with opposing caddies, we all travelled to the course together in shared rental cars, ate together and socialised together, there was never a hint of animosity.

Niclas Fasth's disgruntled bagman suggested that Seve had cost him his percentage of the winners' cheque due to his selfish captaining. It was hard to dispute his argument given that his man did not lose any of his five matches.

In terms of leadership Colin Montgomerie certainly could not be accused of lack of enthusiasm or inclusion of everyone's opinions, including the caddies, when it came to choosing the fourball pairings and singles opposition. He made sure that all the players were happy with the excellent Valencian food that was served in the team-room.

The caddies had full access to the team room (as did the Europeans) and its fine cuisine. He even got a table tennis table installed and made sure that the Europeans knew we had one. Of course they had one brought in by Thursday so as not to be outdone before the first match started.

There was an uproar in the European room after the first day due to a vociferous complaint by a senior player, not Seve, that there was no support for them on the course. This complaint was directed at everyone in the room, players, wives, mothers and whoever else was busy lapping up the Valencian fare. Needless to say it created a further rift in the already fractious Continental Europe side.

It was no surprise then that there was the mother of all incidents on the third green between our own Padraig Harrington and Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal.When Padraig pointed out to Jose it was good etiquette to consult either him or the accompanying referee before repairing any marks on the green, Jose took the hump and conceded the hole after some heated debate. He was offended his integrity had been questioned. The game was halved after a round thereafter bereft of golfing politesse.

After such a display of tantrums in the third Seve Trophy I wouldn't be surprised if some players decline the offer to play next time. The team compromise for some seems to be too great a sacrifice.