Sam Torrance revealed his GB & I side turned around a near Seve Trophy whitewash to forge to within a point of their rivals thanks to watching The Empire Strikes Back and listening to the stirring sounds of the Braveheart speech.
Torrance could not contain his joy after his team fought back from being down two points at the start of day two to win the opening three matches and head to today’s (SAT) Foursomes trailing 4 ½ to 5 ½ points.
The only disappointment was the thumping handed out to the all-Scotland pair of Paul Lawrie and Stephen Gallacher who lost 6 & 5 to the unbeaten European duo of Nicolas Colsaerts and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.
Braveheart speech helps inspire GB & I side on day two of Seve Trophy.
It was the equal biggest defeat in the 13-year history of the teams event.
However after Torrance split good buddies Scott Jamieson and Marc Warren, the Glaswegian duo teamed with David Lynn and Jamie Donaldson respectively to win both matches.
In fact, Donaldson played his last five holes in six under with an eagle and five birdies.
Jamieson turned villain into hero birding his closing two holes to deliver Torrance a vital 1 hole victory over the all-Italian pair of Francesco Molinari and Matteo Manassero.
“It was a fantastic comeback today and though the Europeans won the last it was a hollow victory,” said a smiling Torrance.
“Some of my team spent the morning watching The Empire Strikes Back and then on the putting green the four Scots were listening to the Braveheart speech.
“I had nothing to do with it and it was the boys themselves who made that decision.
“But the matches have worked out great and it was good to see Scott and Marc be on a winning side after I had decided to split them up.
“As for Colsearts and Gonzalo, I knew even before coming to France this week they would be the strongest and though Paul and Stevie lost today, I felt they are the strongest on the European Team.”
Jamieson was the hero of the 2011 GB & I Team holing the winning against Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal and the beared Scot was again in the limelight holing putts of five foot at both the 17th and final hole for a vital point.
“I thought with a few holes to go David (Lynn) and myself better start playing a bit better because they had had a great front nine to be five under but we kept fighting right to the end and got the result we needed,” he said.
“We managed to birdie 14 to get back to one down and that was the kick-start we needed.
“So to birdie the last two and get a point was massive as it wasn’t looking like we were going to win so see a red point up there on the board besides our names is huge for the team.”
Warren was full of praise for Donaldson and had it been stroke play the Welshman would have been nine under par for his round.
“Jamie was awesome and played phenomenal and I’d just like to thank captain Sam for pairing me with him,” said Warren.
“We had mentioned to Sam the other night it would be natural to mix the Scots boys up so it was fine.
“But if there was anyone outside he could have paired me with I probably know Jamie the best.
“We’ve always got on well and we had a good laugh out on the course so that helps.”
England’s Paul Casey continues to stake his claims in a return to next year’s Ryder Cup after remaining undefeated and teaming with Simon Khan to defeat the Scandinavian duo of Mikko Illonen and Thorbjorn Olesen 3 & 2.
The Englishman played in three Ryder Cups from 2004 before being controversially overlooked by Colin Montgomerie as a ‘wildcard’ pick in favour of Padraig Harrington for the 2010 Celtic Manor encounter.
“I am just loving this and I’ve always love match-play,” said Casey.
“Some will say this is just the Seve Trophy. I don’t care because this great and I just love team competition.
“There is a lot of pride at stake this week.”
Torrance has stuck with Gallacher and Lawrie for today’s (SAT) morning Foursomes as well as pairing Warren again with Donaldson but mixing Jamieson with England’s Chris Wood.
He said: “I’ve decided to stick with Paul and Stevie so they will be either licking their lips tomorrow or have the bicycle clips on but hopefully they will be licking their lips (laughing).”
