Great Britain and Ireland lead Continental Europe 3½-1½ after day one of the Ryder Cup-style Team Cup at Abu Dhabi Golf Resort.
The three-day competition is designed to give Europe captain Luke Donald a look at some of the players in contention for September’s Ryder Cup match against the United States in New York.
Donald said on the eve of the event that it is of “massive importance”, while players from both sides were subjected to chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A” over the PA system during practice days in preparation for what is expected to be a hostile crowd at Bethpage.
Ryder Cup veteran Justin Rose is the playing captain of the GB&I side, while Francesco Molinari, who has three appearances as a player, is in the same position for Continental Europe.
Both paired themselves with players hoping to make debuts in New York. But both ended up losing their opening fourball matches.
Rose and fellow Englishman Matt Wallace were beaten 3&1 in the top match as French duo Matthieu Pavon and Romain Langasque secured the first point.
Molinari, playing with resurgent fellow Italian Matteo Manassero, suffered the biggest defeat of the session, beaten 4&2 by Tommy Fleetwood and Aaron Rai, who has climbed to number 22 in the world after winning his first PGA Tour event last August.
Fleetwood was playing-captain of the GB&I side in 2023 when this event was resurrected with the aim of helping Europe regain the Ryder Cup in Rome later that year.
Tyrrell Hatton and Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin, the only non-Englishman in the 10-man GB&I team – and a man rumoured to be joining Hatton on the LIV Golf circuit – defeated French pair Antoine Rozner and Julien Guerrier 3&2.
Jordan Smith and Laurie Canter beat Rasmus Hojgaard and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen by one hole, while the match featuring Matthew Jordan and Paul Waring against Thorbjorn Olesen and Niklas Norgaard ended in a tie with both sides picking up a half point.
Referring to those two matches that were the only ones to go down the 18th, Rose told BBC Sport: “There were some nice moments because if they go the wrong way it changes the whole complexion of the day, so the team closed it out nicely.”
All 20 players are in action in all sessions across the three days with Saturday featuring two sessions of alternate shot foursomes with 10 singles to follow Sunday.
With 25 points to be won, the first team to 13 claim the trophy.
