• Vivendi Seve Trophy

Great Britain & Ireland get off to fast start in Paris

Lee Westwood aims a fistpump © Getty Images

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• Profile: Darren Clarke | Ross Fisher | Miguel Jimenez | Pablo Larrazabal | Francesco Molinari | Ian Poulter | Robert Rock | Lee Westwood

Great Britain & Ireland had the best of the first day of the Vivendi Seve Trophy, with Paul McGinley's troops opening up a healthy 4-1 lead over Continental Europe.

Continental Europe may be favourites for the four-day matchplay competition but GB & Ireland dominated the opening fourballs to leave Jean Van De Velde's side, who are aiming to lift the trophy for the first time since 2000, reeling.

Miguel Angel Jiménez honoured his late friend Seve Ballesteros by getting proceedings under way with a sweetly-struck drive, though the top game was quickly put into the shade by a rampant Ross Fisher and Scott Jamieson. Fisher and his rookie partner stormed past Swede Peter Hanson and Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin 6&4 to get the scoreboard moving for Great Britain & Ireland.

Simon Dyson, who won last week's KLM Open, continued his good form as he and Welshman Jamie Donaldson brought an emotional day for Jiménez to a sorry end, inflicting a 2&1 defeat on the Spaniard and his compatriot Pablo Larrazabal. Robert Rock showed nerves of steel with the short stick to hole a series of putts to help add a further point with partner Ian Poulter, the pair seeing off the challenge of Thomas Bjorn and Alex Noren 5&3 in the last match out.

Francesco Molinari held his nerve on the final green to put some blue on the board, teaming up with Anders Hansen to edge world No. 2 Lee Westwood and Mark Foster. The European duo were one up coming down the last but Westwood's 20-foot putt looked to have halted their celebrations. However, an ice-cool Molinari matched Westwood's pressure putt by rolling in an eight-foot effort of his own to snatch the victory.

In the other fixture, David Horsey and Open champion Darren Clarke led their match all the way after the former rolled in a birdie at the first, with the Great Britain & Ireland pair eventually beating Matteo Manassero and Nicolas Colsaerts by a single hole.

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