Tommy Fleetwood scored the winning point as Justin Rose’s Great Britain & Ireland completed a comprehensive 17-8 victory over Continental Europe at the 2025 Team Cup on Sunday.
Carrying an 11-4 advantage into the 10 singles matches at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, mainly thanks to a dominant 7.5 – 2.5 scoreline in the two foursomes sessions on Saturday, GB&I only required two points to seal the result entering the final day.
And apparently in no mood to become part of a tense sprint towards the finish line, the side featuring nine English players and one Northern Irishman left no chance for a European fightback by quickly taking the lead in the majority of matches.
With each of the opening four clashes falling the way of Rose’s men, including the captain’s own battle with Julien Guerrier, the overall contest was swiftly decided in favor of the team in pink.
Laurie Canter – who was GB&I’s third man out – notched the winning side’s first point on Sunday following a superb 5&4 victory over Romain Langasque before Tyrrell Hatton failed to capitalize on a long-range chance to seal the deal against Thorbjorn Olesen on 16.
Hatton’s miss only delayed the inevitable, however, as Matthieu Pavon conceded the 16th hole against Fleetwood moments later to push GB&I over the line. Then, Hatton wrapped up his own 3&1 success versus Olesen – taking the overall score to 14-4.
Reacting to another winning moment, Fleetwood – who ended the Team Cup as top point-scorer – was also involved in the crucial point at the 2023 Ryder Cup, the 33-year-old said: “Slightly different circumstances this time! But, obviously, it feels great.
“What an unbelievable group of lads we had again and an unbelievable captain. It was a pleasure to be a part of it, and everybody just played so well.”
Playing captain, Rose could have wrapped his own point up even earlier than he did as a couple of chances down the back nine came and went, but the Englishman finally saw off his French rival at the 16th hole to maintain GB&I’s 100% record.
Speaking immediately after sinking the final putt, Rose was keen to deflect all praise onto his teammates and revealed each had worked incredibly hard in the build-up.
.@TommyFleetwood1 loves a winning moment 😉 https://t.co/xTDXOQfoD3 pic.twitter.com/d377ZiBHGVJanuary 12, 2025
He said: “Wow. All of the lads had earned the right to come out here today and play for themselves and continue what has been a great week for all of us.
“They’ve all worked hard coming into this, I’ve seen a lot of guys preparing well for this event – it’s meant a lot to them – so I kind of thanked them for their efforts even before the week started.
“I think they’ve deserved the level they’ve played at… But unbelievable, so much pink on that leaderboard. It is actually a little surprising to go that deep, but every player has come out with no complacency – it’s amazing.”
“Wow! All the lads have prepared well for this event, it’s meant a lot to them!” @JustinRose99 reaction to the current projected winning margin 🙌#TeamCup pic.twitter.com/W1juqO4kgBJanuary 12, 2025
It wasn’t to be a total whitewash for GB&I, though, as Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard clinched a 3&2 success over Matthew Jordan in the fifth match out and Antoine Rozner defeated Matt Wallace 1up with a victory on the last in the seventh.
In between those results, Paul Waring continued Rose and co.’s victory march via a 4&3 win over Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.
While the first six matches were decided by relatively wide margins, the final four continued to be tight until the end as Continental Europe issued something of a fightback.
Matteo Manassero repeated Rozner’s margin of success over Wallace against Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin with a birdie at the last, and there was further European joy on the 18th green when playing captain, Francesco Molinari rolled in a brilliant birdie putt to take a half against Jordan Smith.
While those in blue feared an even heavier margin of defeat earlier in the day, the final score ended 17-8 to GB&I after Rasmus Hojgaard fought back from three down with five to play to share a half point with Aaron Rai.
