Britain-Ireland wins Vivendi Trophy for fifth straight time

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SAINT-NOM-LA-BRETECHE, France (AP) -- Britain and Ireland won the Vivendi Trophy for a fifth consecutive time Sunday after beating Continental Europe 16 to 11 following the final 10 singles matches.

The British and Irish team captained by three-time Ryder Cup winner Paul McGinley quickly took an insurmountable 15-7 lead with seven singles matches still to be decided after Rory McIlroy defeated Henrik Stenson by one hole and Graeme McDowell beat Robert Karlsson 3 and 2.

The European players fought back to reduce the deficit, including Anders Hansen thrashing Nick Dougherty with a 7 and 6 win.

England's Anthony Wall pulled out of his match against Spaniard Alvaro Quiros at the start of the day because of a shoulder injury, giving both teams a half point. That meant Britain and Ireland needed just 1 points from the nine remaining matchups to win the event.

The defending champions set up their victory during Saturday's greensomes and foursomes, when they opened up a seven-point lead at Saint-Nom-la-Breteche Golf Club.

"We had a huge lead going into today, we had 90 per cent of the job done, and I think we all really enjoyed it," McGinley said. "The team spirit was extremely good, and the boys who had not played team golf before, got off on a really good foot and hopefully they will fly the flag for Europe in the future."

The Vivendi Trophy, a biennial event formerly known as the Seve Trophy after Seve Ballesteros, was first played in 2000. Continental Europe won the inaugural event before Britain and Ireland won five in a row.

Ballesteros, who has undergone four operations to remove a cancerous brain tumor, had hoped to attend this weekend's play but decided to stay home after feeling tired from his treatment.

"I am very sorry I cannot be with you this year," Ballesteros said in a video message posted Sunday. "I just finished my radiotherapy and that really makes me very tired. That was expected. Hopefully I should be OK in about one month."

Ballesteros added that he was looking forward for the seventh edition of the tournament in 2011.

"Seve has been in our thoughts every day," McGinley said. "There has not been a team meeting we haven't done or anything like that that we haven't done that we haven't mentioned Seve. I know he's watching out there, and I got a phone call and it means so much to everybody."