The Seve Trophy is a biennial golf tournament between teams of professional male golfers representing Great Britain & Ireland and Continental Europe. It is named after five times major winner Seve Ballesteros, the most successful golfer ever from Continental Europe who was one of the key instigators of the tournament. He made an exceptional contribution to the European Ryder Cup successes of the 1980s and 1990s, and came to be regarded as an exceptionally keen team man in a usually individualistic sport. A sponsorship deal with the French media conglomerate Vivendi meant that the 2009 was known as The Vivendi Trophy with Seve Ballesteros and the 2011 event was the Vivendi Seve Trophy.

Like the much more established Ryder Cup, which is now played between teams representing the whole of Europe and the United States, the Seve Trophy is a team event played over three or four days, with two or three days of pairs matches (the precise formats used have varied) and a concluding set of singles matches on the final day. Major differences include the smaller size of the teams, which are ten strong, whereas in the Ryder Cup they are twelve strong, and the fact that there is prizemoney involved. Players are willing to play in the Ryder Cup for nothing because of its prestige, although they receive large indirect financial compensation from the boost that participation gives to their prestige and profile, but as a new event, founded only in 2000, the Seve Trophy needed to offer prize money to attract first rate players.

Severiano "Seve" Ballesteros Sota (Spanish pronunciation: [seβeˈɾjano βaʎesˈteɾos]; 9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. He gained attention in the golfing world in 1976, when at the age of 19 he finished second at the The Open Championship (British Open). A member of a gifted golfing family, Ballesteros won five major championships between 1979 and 1988: the Open Championship three times, and the Masters Tournament twice. He was also successful in the Ryder Cup, helping the European team to five wins both as a player and captain, and won the World Match Play Championship a record-tying five times. He is best known for his great short game, and his erratic driving of the golf ball. He is generally regarded as the greatest Spanish golfer of all time.

Because of back-related injuries, Ballesteros struggled with form during the 1990s. In spite of this, he continued to be involved in the game of golf, creating the Seve Trophy and running a golf course design business. Ballesteros eventually retired from competitive golf in 2007 because of continued poor form, and in 2008 was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. After reports that he would make a return to the spotlight at the 2010 Open Championship, he did not travel to St. Andrews following the advice of doctors.

Willibrordus Adrianus Maria "Joost" Luiten (born 7 January 1986) is a Dutch professional golfer.

Luiten was born in Bleiswijk. He is currently a member of the European Tour. After a failed bid for a tour card on the Qualifying School he started his professional career on the EPD Tour where he claimed the second place twice in just four starts. Because he was not in possession of a tour card Luiten was solely depending on invites to play on the Challenge Tour. He received one for the Tusker Kenya Open where he birdied the 72nd hole for a shared tenth place, this was exactly enough to earn himself a start in the next tournament where he finished third. On his way to show how to make perfect use of a single invite Luiten went on to win in France, his third start of the season. In his first six events of 2007, he won two of them. On his way to winning the Vodafone Challenge he shot a 61 (-11) in the final round, the lowest final round total by a tournament winner.

After finishing sixth on the 2007 Challenge Tour rankings he received a European Tour card for 2008 and claimed two top 10 spots before injury curtailed his season.

Grégory Bourdy (born 25 April 1982) is a French professional golfer who competes on the European Tour.

Bourdy was born in Bordeaux. He turned professional in 2003. His cousin Nicolas Beaufils is also a professional golfer, who has played on the Challenge Tour.

Bourdy has played on the European Tour full time since 2005, having previously competed on the second-tier Challenge Tour. Bourdy won his first European Tour event on 28 October 2007 at the Mallorca Classic. That win helped him to finish 39th on the European Tour's Order of Merit list, the first time he had broken the top 100. He has been the highest ranked French golfer on the Official World Golf Rankings.

Bourdy also picked up three victories on the Alps Tour, one of Europes third-tier development tours, between 2003 and 2005, and won the South African PGA Championship on the Sunshine Tour in 2006. Bourdy was also a member of the French team who finished in 2nd place at the 2002 Eisenhower Trophy.

In November 2009, Bourdy held off the challenge of Rory McIlroy to win the UBS Hong Kong Open by two strokes.