Bob MacIntyre hails winning Hero Cup start alongside Seamus Power as 'perfect round of golf'

It’s proving a profitable week for Bob MacIntyre and Seamus Power in the inaugural Hero Cup. Having already enjoyed taking money off Shane Lowry in a practice round at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, the pair produced the dominant performance in the opening session.

“We bonded over taking money off Shane and it was good we got a win today,” said a smiling Power as the duo celebrated a 4 and 3 success for Great Britain and Ireland over Continental Europe duo Adrian Meronk and Sepp Straka.

It’s 3-2 to Continental Europe heading into a double foursomes session on the second day in the United Arab Emirates, but, watched by Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, MacIntyre and Power certainly laid down an early marker in terms of potential pairings for Rome in September.

The duo hadn’t even met before arriving here for this exciting new event, but you’d never have guessed that as they gelled really well to secure a vital point for Tommy Fleetwood’s team, covering 15 holes in ten-under.

Ewen Ferguson and Richard Mansell celebrate halving their fourball match on the opening day of the Hero Cup. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

“We played unbelievable,” said MacIntyre as he reflected on a success that was set up by wins at the fourth and sixth before back-to-back hole victories at the 11th and 12th effectively meant there was no way back for their opponents.

“We said before we went to the first tee, ‘how do we want to play it here as it’s two chances on every hole?’ and we seemed to do that well,” added the Oban man. “If one person wasn’t in it, the other one was in close. It was probably just the perfect round of golf.

“We hadn’t met before this week, but we are kind of from the same background and both feel it is pretty easy to connect with people. We also played on the first practice day with Shane and there was a bit of craic then to ease us in and it was good today.”

Power, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, was equally delighted with the pair’s performance. “There’s obviously a few moments in a match and, on 11, Bob made a putt from outside our opponents and stuff like that can change a match,” he said. “A lot of good stuff, we didn’t leave too many out there and hopefully we can kick on from this. These things always seem to come down to the last few matches, so every point you get is huge and we were pleased to get one today.”

Séamus Power and Bob MacIntyre shake hands after winning their opening match together in the inaugural Hero Cup at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. Picture: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images.

Fleetwood, who’d earlier lost alongside Shane Lowry to a last-hole birdie after producing a spirited fightback against Alex Noren and Thomas Pieters, admitted he was grateful for the contribution from the Scottish-Irish pairing.

“They both said they loved it and played great golf,” he said. “You know, it’s different when you are playing in teams and chemistry is probably the most important thing. You can look at all the stats you want, but guys that gel well together and have that chemistry is really important.

“We’ll see what happens the rest of the week, but I am so happy for those guys for putting in a dominant performance like that and, overall, we were the only team that put in a dominant performance like that, so I guess we’ll take that one as a positive.”

It was looking like Continental Europe might win the top three matches – Thomas Detry and Antoine Rozner had also come out on top for Francesco Molinari’s men – until Matt Wallace, playing alongside Callum Shinkwin, birdied the last secure a half point against Guido Migliozzi and Victor Perez.

Then, with most of the other players, as well as everyone else, looking on, Ewen Ferguson and Richard Mansell fought back from being two down with seven to play against Molinari and Nicolai Hojgaard to deliver a valuable share of the spoils for Great Britain and Ireland in the last match out on the course.

“At the start, we played incredible,” said Ferguson, who followed a chip-in from his partner at the fifth by rolling in a ten-footer for a winning birdie at the next. “We had a wee spell in the middle where things were not going as good, but we battled well.

“They were playing brilliant, but, to be fair, we didn't do anything wrong. At the end, Rich took the game by the scruff of the neck. We knew we were a team. We thought we would be good beforehand. I’d said to Tommy and Luke, ‘I think it will be good’ and I think we will be good tomorrow as well.”

At the end of a session watched by winning European Ryder Cup captains Jose Maria Olazabal, Paul McGinley and Thomas Bjorn, Fleetwood reckoned the mood in his team room would be slightly better than the one next door in the on-site Westin Hotel.

“I think it’s been a very good first day,” declared the Englishman. “It was very competitive and a lot of good golf played and it was quite amazing that four of the five matches went down the last hole. That just shows you how tight it is and also the high level of competition.

“I think definitely for us, when you look at where the matches stood with not long to go, we are going to feel the best about the way the session finished. In fact, we are going to feel great about it, but I still think we are playing really good golf and we just have to keep that going, especially in the tough format tomorrow.”

In that final match, Molinari and Hojgaard, a late replacement for his twin brother Rasmus, who is here watching instead, both squandered good birdie chances following exquisite approaches at the par-4 17th, but, wearing his captain’s hat, the 2019 Open champion certainly wasn’t downhearted.

“I'm really, really happy and proud of how we started today,” said Molinari. “My guys did amazing. Long way to go but it's always nice winning a session. I believe in them. They are amazing players. So really just to play their own game and be confident.”