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Irish not among Seve wildcards

For the first time in the tournament's brief history, there will be no Irish presence at the Seve Trophy when the event pitches…

Tue Sept 18 2007 - 01:00

For the first time in the tournament's brief history, there will be no Irish presence at the Seve Trophy when the event pitches up at the Heritage in Co Laois next weekend.

With Padraig Harrington having withdrawn yesterday, Paul McGinley or Graeme McDowell were expected to be among Britain and Ireland captain Nick Faldo's wildcard picks.

Instead, the 2008 Ryder Cup skipper named England's Simon Dyson and Scot Marc Warren  leaving Irish fans with precious little to get excited about in Killenard.

Continental Europe captain Seve Ballesteros, meanwhile, has chosen fellow Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Dane Thomas Bjorn as the last two members of his side.

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Dyson is the next highest-ranked player Faldo could have gone for after Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood also decided not to play in the match, but on that basis David Howell would have been his second pick.

However, Howell has been falling down the rankings this season whereas Warren, last season's European Tour Rookie of the Year, won the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles only three weeks ago and was named by Colin Montgomerie there as a candidate for next year's Ryder Cup.

Faldo, who will also lead Europe against America, said: "Captaining the Britain and Ireland team offers me a great opportunity to see some of the young players who have been performing well on tour this season in action at a match-play event.

"This was the most important factor for me when making my wild card selections. With that in mind, these were two obvious choices for me."

Ballesteros has suffered from withdrawals even more than Faldo as Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Niclas Fasth and Anders Hansen — potentially his top four — have turned down the tournament, as have Jose Maria Olazabal, Carl Pettersson and Bernhard Langer.

Britain and Ireland: Justin Rose, Paul Casey, Colin Montgomerie, Bradley Dredge, Graeme Storm, Oliver Wilson, Phillip Archer, Nick Dougherty. Wild cards: Simon Dyson, Marc Warren. Non-playing captain: Nick Faldo.

Continental Europe: Robert Karlsson, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Mikko Ilonen, Raphael Jacquelin, Soren Hansen, Gregory Havret, Peter Hanson, Markus Brier. Wild cards: Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Thomas Bjorn.