Javier Ballesteros Issues Statement Calling Hero Cup 'An Exact Copy Of The Seve Trophy'

Seve Ballesteros' son Javier has released a statement to show his disappointment at the new Hero Cup GB&I vs Continental Europe match being launched, calling it "an exact copy of The Seve Trophy."

The former Seve Trophy was a GB&I vs Continental Europe match play contest organised by the European Tour that was last played in 2013. The Seve Trophy is somewhat returning in January with the newly-launched Hero Cup, but Ballesteros' son appears to be unhappy that the name has changed.

"We believe our Dad deserves something better from The European Tour," Javier said. His sister Carmen also expressed her unhappiness, tweeting: "VERY DISSAPOINTED and ZERO respect. Nothing else to add."

Javier Ballesteros statement:

"There's a lot being discussed around the "new" match play event announced by The European Tour and this is what happened:

Last October an ET [DP World Tour] player came to me to say that European Tour was thinking about bringing Seve Trophy back (I was very happy to hear this).

I heard nothing more about it until only one day before the announcement was made, when ET contacted me to let me know there was a "new" match play event - being this an exact copy of The Seve Trophy - and wanted my Dad "to be involved in some way". We obviously said NO. We don't want anything out of this, but only The Seve Trophy back, not a copy of it.

"We believe our Dad deserves something better from The European Tour, given the unconditional support he always gave to The European Tour and the legacy he left behind."

Europe's 2018 victorious Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn said the Seve Trophy being renamed was "an issue."

"So the Vivendi trophy has been renamed the Hero Cup and that’s an issue," the Dane wrote on Twitter. "It would be great to have Seve’s name on it but commercially it’s important to Hero that it has this name. I’m sure we as a tour will celebrate the great man during the event as we always do."

There were eight editions of the Seve Trophy between 2000 and 2013, with GB&I winning six and Europe winning two.