McGinley's Britain and Ireland race into early lead

THE VIVENDI SEVE TROPHY:BRITAIN AND Ireland captain Paul McGinley warned his players not to get carried away after a dream first day of the Vivendi Seve Trophy at St-Nom-La-Breteche saw them take a 4-1 lead over Continental Europe.

McGinley’s team were in dominant mood, none more so than Scott Jamieson and Ross Fisher who beat Peter Hanson and Raphael Jacquelin 6 and 4. “It’s important to pace ourselves,” McGinley said. “We have had a great start – a brilliant start – but there’s a long, long way to go, a lot of points to be played for yet.”

Only Mark Foster and Lee Westwood of the Britain and Ireland team failed to win their fourballs encounter yesterday, but even then it was the closest of calls against Anders Hansen and Francesco Molinari. One down heading to the 18th, Westwood appeared to have salvaged a half when he holed a 20-foot birdie putt, but Molinari followed suit to ensure Europe at least finished the day with a point.

Otherwise the leaderboard was a sea of red, with Simon Dyson and Jamie Donaldson beating Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal 2 and 1, Robert Rock and Ian Poulter 5 and 3 winners over Thomas Bjorn and Alexander Noren, and Darren Clarke and David Horsey securing a one-up victory over Nicolas Colsaerts and Matteo Manassero. Nevertheless, McGinley added: “It’s a very, very strong European team and we certainly will not be underestimating them. We played really good golf today, but if we are going to win this, we have to keep on playing to that standard because they are going to come back, there’s nothing surer than that.”

Fisher made all the early running in his fourball, winning three of the first five holes with two birdies and a par, while Jamieson’s birdie at the third ensured they were three up after five.