Sam Torrance last night kept faith in Paul Lawrie and Stephen Gallacher despite the pounding they received in the second session of fourballs in the Seve Trophy in Versailles.
The two Press and Journal columnists were beaten 6 and 5 by Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts and Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano – equalling the Seve Trophy record for a fourball defeat.
But GB and Ireland team skipper Torrance, who has to rest two players for this morning’s first foursomes session, named the pair to go out first at Saint-Nom-La-Breteche.
The Scots pair will have the chance to avenge yesterday’s crushing loss as Europe captain Jose Maria Olazabal put Colsaerts and Fernandez Castano top of his pairings for this morning’s matches.
Torrance said: “I have always felt Paul and Stephen are my strongest pair this week.
“They will either be licking their lips over the draw or putting on bicycle clips.”
The two Scots have been suffering from stomach bugs and dizzy spells since arriving in France but that was not an excuse put forward by Gallacher for their form yesterday.
He said: “They played well and we played poorly. It was as simple as that.
“They were 10 under par on Thursday and eight under when they beat us in blustery weather. So, we would have had to really be on our game to give them a match. We never got it together, we didn’t dovetail well.”
But another Scot could hold his head high last night after a fightback saw Europe’s first-day lead trimmed back to 5
Scott Jamieson produced a brilliant late run to steer himself and England’s David Lynn to a one-hole victory over Francesco Molinari and Matteo Manassero.
The highly-rated Italian pair had led by two with five to play, but Lynn pegged them with a birdie at the 14th before Jamieson holed two birdie putts from 5ft on the 17th and 18th green to bag an unlikely victory.
In the final match of the day, Tommy Fleetwood and Chris Wood came up agonisingly short against Joost Luiten and Gregory Bourdy despite a brave fightback when all seemed lost.
The Continental Europe pair were three up after 14 and two up with two to play but Wood’s eagle on the 17th ensured it would go down to the final hole.
Both Wood and Fleetwood had putts to win the final hole and halve the match.
However, Fleetwood’s effort drifted wide from six feet, allowing Luiten and Bourdy to escape with a one-hole victory to restore Europe’s narrow advantage.