Seve Trophy heads for Valencia

El Saler in Valencia will stage the third edition of the Seve Trophy from November 7-9 this year.

A 10-man team from Continental Europe, captained by Seve Ballesteros, will attempt to regain the trophy lost to Great Britain & Ireland at Druids Glen last April.

“This is a special day for me and for Spanish golf,” Ballesteros said today.

“After the editions that took place in England and Ireland, my wish was to bring the event to my country.”

Rival captain Colin Montgomerie, who has lost to Ballesteros in both their singles matches in the contest, added: “The Seve Trophy event proved its value to European golfers when we regained the Ryder Cup from the Americans last year.

“The prospect of playing Seve and his team in Spain is really exciting.”

The long-term future of the event remains in doubt however.

After being disqualified from the Italian Open this month for refusing to accept a one-stroke penalty for slow play, Ballesteros claimed the event would not survive because of opposition from the European Tour.

“When we decided to hold the second Seve Trophy in Ireland the Tour tried to boycott the event because they don’t have a piece of the cake,” the five-time major winner alleged.

“They had the dates for this year’s event set up but because we didn’t have the sponsor confirmed they took away the dates and the rankings don’t show in the Tour News.

“The Seve Trophy will disappear because Ken Schofield (tour executive director) is against it but after 30 years (on tour) what should I do? I am supposed to take nothing, go home and disappear?”

The top eight players on those rankings for each team will qualify for the Ryder Cup-style contest alongside captains Montgomerie and Ballesteros, who will each have one wild card.

Each member of the winning team will collect £108,000 with £50,000 for the losers.

The qualifying period ends after the Madrid Open on October 26 with the contest taking place after the traditional season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama.

El Saler has hosted the Spanish Open on three occasions, in 1984, 1989 and 2001, Germany’s Bernhard Langer shooting a course-record 62 in 1984.