Great Britain & Ireland stormed to a commanding triumph at the 2025 Team Cup in Abu Dhabi, thumping Continental Europe by a 17-8 margin that, at times, felt more decisive than a driver off the deck.
Leading this merry band of British and Irish standouts was none other than Justin Rose, whose troops took a comfortable seven-point advantage into the final day.
They needed just a couple of points to seal the deal, and if you blinked, you might have missed the moment it all came together.
Laurie Canter grabbed the first point, toppling an undefeated Romain Langasque 5&4, which is about as polite a drubbing as you’ll ever see on a Sunday.
Then Tommy Fleetwood—always a show-stealer—clinched the winning point by defeating Matthieu Pavon 3&1.
Much like his Ryder Cup heroics back in 2023, Fleetwood once again proved why you want him in your corner when the pressure’s on.
From there, it turned into a bit of a victory parade. Fleetwood capped the week as the only competitor with four wins in four matches, somehow keeping his cool in the desert sun and producing a few shots that made me question whether he’s part wizard.
Great Britain & Ireland threatened to run away with it altogether, leading in nine out of ten matches at one stage—a scenario that had Continental Europe sweating more than a caddie hoofing it across a fairway bunker.
Still, Captain Francesco Molinari’s side showed a bit of flair in the closing holes. Niklas Nørgaard downed Matthew Jordan 3&2 before Antoine Rozer and Matteo Manassero squeezed out 1Up victories of their own.
Molinari himself fought back from two down over the last seven to eke out a half-point versus Jordan Smith, and Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard pulled off a similar Houdini act—clawing back from three holes down with five to go to share the spoils with Aaron Rai.
Francesco Molinari: I think I probably could have done a slightly better job with the boys. They gave it all they had.
Our side was maybe more inexperienced players in this kind of event but they are great guys and they did their best. The GB&I team was just too hard for us this week.
Definitely not ideal (losing Nicolai Højgaard to illness). Thomas Bjørn should have been a vice captain, and I think he was a bit sick all week. A few things went wrong from the start of the week. We missed Nicolai.
But to be fair, Julien showed up last minute and played some terrific golf. I’m glad the younger guys got exposed to this sort of environment and we’ll be back in two years trying to win it back.
In the end, it was far too little, far too late to topple an inspired Great Britain & Ireland at the 2025 Team Cup.
Justin Rose: Huge honour. Loved the challenge of it. Loved the experience of it, and the lads have made me look incredibly good at it.
The way they played was first class. We had one clear message, which was to get on the front foot to try to be relentless to play wave after wave. Playing on a big lead, everybody felt like we could get the job done, but just to focus on individual and personal pride, kind of continue the message of the week.
The leaderboard early in the round was astonishing, really. Every credit to Continental Europe and Francesco himself and the team as a whole. The whole matches were played in great spirit but yeah, my team definitely holed the right putts at the right time and won most of those key matches.
You can’t simulate the intensity of a Ryder Cup with the crowd and the energy. But at the end of the day, as soon as you put a crest here and you have ten mates right behind you, you want to win.
Even practise rounds playing with our mates on tour, you never like to lose. So the intensity is there. The competitiveness is there. Just the environment is hard to simulate.
But like I said, I think that competitive matchplay is so valuable.
Expect to see more fireworks from both sides next time around—after all, this new generation of European golfers looks determined to leave its own mark, and no desert sun seems hot enough to quell the battles they’ll bring to the fairways.
But for now, the trophy goes back across the water, and the GB&I boys will no doubt be celebrating long after the final putt has dropped.
Fore! And maybe a few more times for good measure.
