Prize scalp for McIlroy as B&I stave off rally

RORY McILROY grabbed the scalp he had craved all week as underdogs Britain and Ireland sent Continental Europe to their fifth successive defeat yesterday.

The 20-year-old wonder boy, expected to make a Ryder Cup debut next year, beat world number five Henrik Stenson on the final green of the Vivendi Trophy in Paris.

And when fellow Irish man Graeme McDowell followed that with a 3&2 victory over last year’s European number one Robert Karlsson, back in action after nearly four months out with an eye problem, Paul McGinley’s side had won with seven games still on the course.