Golfers Molinari, Fleetwood get down to work as teams assemble for inaugural Hero Cup

Abu Dhabi, Jan 11 Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood are excited to make their captaincy debuts as they prepare to lead their respective Continental Europe and Great Britain & Ireland teams at the inaugural Hero Cup at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

The duo, who forged an exceptional partnership at Le Golf National in 2018 in contributing four points from four towards Team Europe's triumph in the Ryder Cup, will compete as playing captains this week as they go head-to-head by leading two teams which each contain an exciting mix of Major Champions, proven winners and some of the most promising young players in golf.

"I think both Tommy and I are lucky this week that we have really two good groups of professionals and guys who are motivated," said Molinari. "They all come here trying to get ready to play some good golf, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and that obviously makes our job a lot easier.

"You also have the support of Luke and the vice captains. It's going to be a fun week and it's going to be a busy week for the two of us, but it will be a great chance to learn and make mistakes, hopefully not too many, and just try to make the guys comfortable and have them play the golf that we know they can play, have a great competition, and we'll see who comes out on top on Sunday."

Fleetwood added: "I look back on other team events that I've played in the past and how important they were to myself, to the teammates and the captains and everybody else involved. We had a really good night last night that was very rightfully themed, we had Paul McGinley speak and Thomas Bjørn and Luke. The Ryder Cup is a huge motivator for every player in Europe that has a chance to play in September but there is a long way to go before that and you can only go one week at a time."

The two teams of ten, which were constructed by the two captains alongside 2023 Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald, will compete across four sessions from January 13-15, with Friday's foursomes session followed by two sessions of fourballs on Saturday, before Sunday's Singles matches will determine the outcome of the Hero Cup.

Teams:

Continental Europe

Captain: Francisco Molinari

Players: Thomas Detry, Nicolai Højgaard, Adrian Meronk, Guido Migliozzi, Alex Noren, Viktor Perez, Thomas Pieters, Sepp Straka and Antonire Rozner.

Great Britain & Ireland

Captain: Tommy Fleetwood

Players: Ewen Ferguson, Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry, Robert MacIntyre, Seamus Power, Callum Shinkwin, Jordan Smith, Matt Wallace and Richard Mansell.

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