Team captains Colin Montgomerie (Great Britain & Ireland) and Jos Maria Olazbal (Continental Europe) have agreed to change the format for naming the players competing in the singles matches at next month's Seve Trophy in line with the method used in the Ryder Cup.

This means that instead of giving one name at a time, both captains with submit a full list of their ten-man teams and these will be matched up to produce the final day singles pairings at The Wynyard Club in the Tees Valley ( September 22-25).

As in previous Seve Trophy events, the two captains will play each other in the first of the singles matches to tee-off on Sunday morning.

It will be the first time that Olazabal has played Montgomerie in matchplay since the final of the British Amateur Championship at Formby in 1984, when the Spaniard won the title.

The change coincides with Olazbal taking over the captaincy of the Continental Europe team from his great friend and Ryder Cup partner, Severiano Ballesteros, with whom he formed the most successful partnership in the history of the biennial matches between the United States and Europe.

Seve will be hosting the four-day event that bears his name as injury prevents him taking part, but he welcomes the change.

"I think this change will increase the competitive nature of the event," he said.

"Both captains will try to out-think the other depending on the match situation, which has always been close."

The Seve Trophy is widely acknowledged as the breeding ground for Europe's Ryder Cup stars of tomorrow. The three previous events have seen two wins for Great Britain & Ireland in 2002 (Druids Glen, Ireland) and 2003 (El Saler, Valencia, Spain) and one for Continental Europe in the inaugural event in 2000 (Sunningdale, England).

Many of Europe's 2004 Ryder Cup heroes are expected to compete for the trophy and a winner's share of the 2 million prize-money.

Tee-off times for the Seve Trophy have now been confirmed as 10.35am on Thursday September 22 and Friday September 23.

Play will begin at 7.50am on Saturday September 24 and at 11.15am on Sunday September 25.

The pro-am event on Wednesday September 21 will begin at 10.30am.

Tickets for the Seve Trophy are available via the Seve Trophy website www.sevetrophy2005.com or at www.ticketmaster.co.uk and can also be booked through a ticket hotline telephone number 0870 602 1121.

Published: 26/08/2005