Lowry ready to lead from the front as Hero Cup pairings announced

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Shane Lowry (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

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Great Britain and Ireland Captain Tommy Fleetwood will lead from the front after deciding to join Shane Lowry in the opening fourballs match against Continental Europe’s Alex Noren and Thomas Pieters at the Hero Cup.

The line-up for the opening session of fourball matches were confirmed at a Pairings Ceremony at Abu Dhabi Golf Club and both teams have opted for experience in the first match of the inaugural event.

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“We’ve loaded up all the way through really,” said Fleetwood. “We have a great team but there are no easy matches. That’s a great team as well but I feel very confident in my guys, like we all do. It’s great to see the pairings finally out and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen.

“I concentrated on our guys but it’s worked out really well. I think the matches look great.”

It’s been all friendly up to now in Abu Dhabi as players have bonded on and off the golf course. However, come game day on Friday, Fleetwood’s partner in crime, Lowry is ready to make some enemies if necessary to ensure his GB&I side claim an eye-catching win.

I’m probably one of the most competitive people you’ll meet. So I’m okay with it – I’ll make enemies for 18 holes, no problem,” said Lowry. “We’re all going to be out there trying to beat each other up a little bit and be very competitive against each other. We all want to win. We are all competitive players.

“We all want this a lot, even though there’s a lot of Ryder Cup chat this week, I feel like as a team we really want to win this week and I’m looking forward to being part of the GB&I Team and looking forward to winning the tournament.”

Belgium’s Thomas Detry and Frenchman Antoine Rozner will represent Team Continental Europe in the second match of the day, with English duo Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Smith their opponents.

Match Three will pit France’s Victor Perez and three-time DP World Tour winner Guido Migliozzi against another all-English pair in Callum Shinkwin and Matt Wallace, before Continental Europe Captain Francesco Molinari teams up with Denmark’s Nicolai Højgaard against Scot Ewen Ferguson and Richard Mansell, of England.

The only fourballs session of the week will conclude with a mixture of proven winners on both the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR, as Austria’s Sepp Straka and Poland’s Adrian Meronk face West Waterford’s Séamus Power and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre.

The Hero Cup will see all 20 players tee it up in all four sessions, with two foursomes sessions taking place on Saturday and the final ten singles matches concluding the event on Sunday. The pairings for the opening foursomes session on day two will be announced following the conclusion of Friday’s play.

The second G4D Tour event of the season, The G4D Tour @ Hero Cup, will also get under way on Friday as ten of the world’s best Golfers with a Disability, including Ireland’s Brendan Lawlor and Conor Stone, tee it up at Abu Dhabi Golf Club prior to the commencement of the fourballs matches.

To download the full draw for Friday’s fourballs matches, please click here.

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