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VIVENDI SEVE TROPHY

September 18, 2011

Jean Van De Velde

PARIS, FRANCE

SARAH GWYNN: Jean, thanks very much for coming in again. Ultimately, not the result you wanted, but what a day.
JEAN VAN DE VELDE: Yeah, what a day. We gave it the best shot we could. Talked about it last night. Talked about it this morning, and the question was, to get very quick, very fast off the starting gate.
I said, you know let's win the first five games and then let's see what's happening. And we won the last five -- the first five games. I was, you know, suddenly we are tied and it was extremely close, even going down to the stretch, as Paul mentioned, it could have swung any way. All credit to Poulter for making three birdies in five holes. You're rarely going to lose a game when that happens when you are only 1-down.
I put my hat down to all of the players really. They lifted their own spirits. OlazÃ¡bal was having dinner with us last night and he mentioned, and rightly so, that it's not over before it's over. So ten games, and then we have a very strong team as individuals, as well. Very experienced players. A lot of young golfers for sure, but putting them up front, obviously that's what I had to do. You know, if we would have lost two or three games straightaway, the game was over.
The plan worked. Thomas, I decided to put Thomas up front just because he's such a player, such a competitor and followed by Anders, who is, as well, quite a competitor. So you know, it went well. I mean, for Lee to go 3-up after five holes, and then after four holes, and then for Thomas to come back and birdie -- I mean, take the sixth hole, when Lee 3-putted and make birdie on 7, and then Lee up-and-downs and all of a sudden, we are back in the game.
So that was that. And behind, it worked well, Francesco just rised to the challenge. And Alexander, I'm never going to say enough about that young kid. He's an outstanding player. He's very strong, great spirit, very young, and he doesn't see anything as an obstacle. Fantastic on that.
And of course, Miguel, never rule him out. Miguel, great form, feeling fantastic this morning, and his shoulder pain yesterday. That's one of the reasons that I rested him is because Miguel is not 25 anymore.
And then after that, Colsaerts' performance I thought was quite amazing. And David Horsey really played phenomenal golf all week.
And then Pablo -- Pablo, the turning point really was on ten when he had a three-foot to win the hole, and he hit it about 2 1/2 feet past and missed that one coming back.
So he went from looking at going from 3-down to 2-down, to 50 seconds later going to 4-down. And then having said that, he's walking down the 18th and with a chance, with a putt to halve his game.
So all of this went extremely close. Matteo, what can I say, from a young man to stand and to play against Ian Poulter and to stand up to him, that was, again, a wonderful performance. He could have swung both ways. You know, it's decided one way instead of the other, and you know, a few phenomenal shots from Ian down the stretch. So here we go, and then after that, RaphaÃ«l was down very early, 3-down after five holes. I said to him, "You've got to find a way to come back into that game no matter what you do."
And all of a sudden, he's all-square after nine, and then he goes 1-up. 1-up after nine, I can't even remember, it's getting mixed in my head now. So all of a sudden we are looking good.
Peter Hanson, as well, turning around the corner, he's 1-up and I'm like, hold on here, we have got a game. The game is on. And you know, as Paul mentioned, really take my hat off to the players and to the spirit of those guys. It shows the strength of character they all have, and for that I'm very thankful to them and very proud, starting from the top of the board from Thomas to Anders to Francesco to Alexander, Miguel, Nicolas Matteo, RaphaÃ«l, Peter, nobody ever put their head down. At the end of the day, that's what you want to see.
SARAH GWYNN: Absolutely.
JEAN VAN DE VELDE: That's a recap. Are we done now?

Q. Just one question. I asked Paul, as well. Having watched this week and some tremendous performances from both sides, Europe must feel quite good about their chances in America next year if we can harness all of that, plus the guys who unfortunately were not here?
JEAN VAN DE VELDE: Yeah, I think there's a lot of things we learned on the course obviously, but off the course, as well, in the locker room, within the players, a lot of information and I'm pretty sure that JosÃ© witnessed most of it and knows about all of it.
It's tremendous information for him to carry on. Whoever is going to make the team, some of those guys, and I hope a lot of them are going to make the team. Obviously not all of them can make it.
But having said that, yes, it will leave this week with probably, you know, a lot of things in the back of his pocket without a doubt.

Q. And finally, on the last green there, what did you say to Peter and Ross, because they were -- you went up to them and spoke to them and then they decided that they would halve the match?
JEAN VAN DE VELDE: I think they decided -- they decided walking down the fairway together, you know, I told Peter, well, I told him a few things, but yeah, that was a great suggestion, and I congratulated both of them for that. We don't need to have a winner or loser there. We don't need --

Q. The spirit of Seve.
JEAN VAN DE VELDE: The spirit of Seve, absolutely. The game was all over. Gave it the best fight and those two gave it the best fight, as well. There was clearly, you know, if the balance was to shift in one direction, there would have been some kind of injustice to the result. I think they put on such a great fight, both of them. And they have so much respect from the other. They do that at the end of the day, it's only going to count for, what, the record book. But they just wanted to share that point, because that's how they felt and yes, definitely for the spirit of Seve. Great sportsmanship there.

Q. Do you have any regrets for this week?
JEAN VAN DE VELDE: Why would I have any regrets? You know, no, I don't have regrets. I think what came out this morning and last night is that you know there needs to be a communication within the group, whether you call it captain or a player, it doesn't really matter.
You really need on the continental side to understand each other, to know each other's preferences, because you know, okay, Great Britain, first of all, it's people speaking the same language. The upbringing is very similar. The culture is very similar. Don't get me wrong, an Englishman is not a Scottish man or a Welshman is not an Irishman, but there's a lot of similarity.
We are so different. We are a bunch of people from the north to the south. You couldn't find somebody who is Nordic living in the north of one of those Nordic countries more different than somebody living in the south of Spain, which is, you know, another step and a little swim, and you are in Africa. Completely different temperaments, complete different people, complete different upbringing, complete different culture.
So put it all together, I think we need to resolve that. I think that it really shows into the greensomes and the foursomes. If you look at the history of the foursomes, in the last Seve Trophy, you would be amazed to see the results there. You would be amazed to see that it's 11 1/2 for Great Britain and Ireland and I think it's 4 1/2 to Europe. That's a big, big swing there, big swing.
The greensomes has not shown as much except starting since last year. Last year was a massive blow on the greensomes and this year was as well. There's something there that we need to find that we need to put the puzzle together. You know, and I definitely think that as individuals within ourselves, we definitely will overcome it, there's no doubt about it.
But once again, I'm extremely pleased with the way the singles went today, because at the end of the day we are going to carry some players from Great Britain and Ireland, and some are going to come from the Continental European Team in The Ryder Cup; and I think that the fact that the gap was so close in the end, will gel everybody together.
You know, there's not going to be -- it's not going to be seen as a punishment or as, oh, Jesus, they won again and how are we going to find a way to -- no. We were extremely close. The respect has been there, but it's even more so there. But we almost turned it the other way around.
It's important that everything is taken out as a positive and that we move on from there, without a doubt and that JosÃ© gets the maximum feedback, of course from Paul and from myself. And the players. And the players.
SARAH GWYNN: Thank you.

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