Seve Trophy has added needle

For the second contest running there has been some unexpected bite to the Seve Trophy.

But whereas it was opponents Padraig Harrington and Jose Maria Olazabal who had an exchange of words in Valencia two years ago this time it is within the Britain and Ireland side that the sparks have flown a bit.

And captain Colin Montgomerie, whose team trailed 6-4 going into this morning’s greensomes at The Wynyard near Middlesbrough, does not consider that a wholly bad thing.

“I think it’s quite good there’s some passion,” said Montgomerie. “Players need passion to make it the game it is.”

There is nothing of the intensity of the Ryder Cup about the contest, but both Montgomerie’s men and Jose Maria Olazabal’s Continental Europe badly want to win.

To that end Montgomerie thought Ian Poulter should have delayed practising for a few minutes on Thursday afternoon as Harrington and Paul McGinley played the last hole of their opening fourballs against Thomas Levet and Jean-Francois Remesy.

It was not so much that Poulter’s presence was required as the fact the noise of hitting drivers nearby could have been a distraction.

That appears to be what Harrington told Montgomerie after losing, so the Scot went and expressed the view to Poulter.

The colourful Englishman’s response is not known, but the suggestion has been made that it contained some colourful language.

Whatever the truth of that, the episode has only added to the will to win of all the players.

Poulter and Nick Dougherty were 10 under par for the 14 holes it took them to thrash Levet and Remesy, while Paul Casey and David Howell and then Harrington and McGinley also made up for first-day defeats.

For the first time in four matches Montgomerie rested himself this morning, although he was expected to return for the afternoon foursomes.

Also left out was Welshman Bradley Dredge, who felt the need to apologise to his team yesterday after a last-green defeat followed his blunder on the opening hole.

After teeing off Dredge discovered – just like compatriot Ian Woosnam when joint leader of the 2001 Open – that he had 15 clubs in his bag instead of the permitted 14.

“It was a sickening feeling when I saw the four-wood was still in the bag,” he said. “It was really annoying to give a hole away cheaply like that.”

He blamed the fact that his caddie had gone off to get some waterproof trousers and their normal “very careful” routine was disrupted. But he knew there was no excuse really and come tomorrow night it might make all the difference.

Meanwhile, Poulter, Montgomerie and Harrington appear to be working “on the same page” again.

“Padraig and Ian are fine and I am fine with both of them,” commented Montgomerie. “I think Padraig had a point and Ian has answered that very honestly.”

Poulter said: “Monty came over and said Harrington wasn’t overly happy that I was hitting balls while they were playing, even though I had stopped in between all of their putts.

“That’s fine. Absolutely fine. No problems whatsoever. I felt I needed to hit a few golf balls. Maybe I should have done it after everyone had finished.

“So on my side it might have been a bit of a mistake. I should have been around the 18th green watching everyone finish. Lesson learned and that is it.

“I spoke to Padraig personally and asked him ‘Did I put you off?’ He said ‘No - not in any way’.

“He said he was 99% sure I was stopping in plenty of time for them to play their shots, which I did. Obviously while I am hitting shots there is a little thought in there – is he going to stop? – but he said that wouldn’t have put him off anyway.”

Asked whether there was a row between him and Montgomerie, Poulter added: “No. Nothing whatsoever.”