Golf stars plough lonely furrow

The opening day of golf's Seve Trophy found itself overshadowed by Ireland's National Ploughing Championship.

Around 300 fans were thought to have witnessed the end of the opening day's play between Nick Faldo's Britain & Ireland and Seve Ballesteros' Europe.

Just 20 miles up the road in Tullamore a reported 80,000 watched 300 competitors 'turn the sod' at the 76th running of the ploughing event.

Some of the blame was laid on Faldo for not picking an Irishman in his side.

Faldo appeared to have dug himself into a hole when he picked two Britons - Simon Dyson and Marc Warren - for his wild-cards, rather than opting for home favourite Paul McGinley.

McGinley has since resigned his position as assistant to Faldo at next year's Ryder Cup, although the skipper has insisted his decision was made in order to concentrate on qualifying for the team as a player.

Meanwhile, at the Annaharvey Farm in Tullamore things were going with a swing at the National Ploughing Championships.

The event, one of the biggest agricultural shows in Europe, came to a successful conclusion after three days in which 163,000 tickets were sold.

Scotland golfer Colin Montgomerie made a plea for some of those fans to make their way round to The Heritage course in Killenard to boost their flagging galleries.

He said: "The sooner they finish the better - they can come round and support us. I'm serious. The atmosphere is limited. I get that size of crowd in a practice round in the evening and it's a shame.

"It's good quality golf and a great golf course, but we need the farmers to bring their wellies and get over here. This event has all the potential provided everyone shows up."

The event is missing some of its big draws, including Open champion Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter from Faldo's team and Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Niclas Fasth and Anders Hansen from Europe.

Paul Casey, who combined with Simon Dyson to lose 4&3 to French pair Raphael Jacquelin and Gregory Havret, added: "With the golf I played people were better off watching the ploughing - it was probably a lot more exciting.

"If I continue to play like I have been maybe I'll pop along there instead.

"It's one of those things. The problem with golf is we have so many events in a year, we have increased the schedule in the past couple of seasons but I'm not sure that's necessarily the right play.

"Guys get tired and have to be selective and certain tournaments will take a hit."

Ballesteros added: "It's Thursday and people are supposed to be working. I just hope there will be more coming - it will create an even better atmosphere."

It proved to be a difficult day for Ballesteros and his troublesome trophy.

Scottish golfer Marc Warren, who partnered Montgomerie in defeat, ended the day in hospital after an accident in his hotel room.

Whilst practising his swing last season's European Tour Rookie of the Year smashed the chandelier above his head.

The glass showering down on him cut his head, both arms and, most worrying of all, caused a deep gash across his stomach.

He said: "I was using a five-iron - it should have been a six because I would have missed it.

"A car took me to hospital, although the driver stalled three times, and I had butterfly stitches in my cuts."

When he returned to his hotel room, Warren found he had fused the lights so had to pack in the dark before being transferred to another room.

Despite his injuries, he was able to take his place alongside Montgomerie in Friday's fourballs.

Source: BBC Sport