A confident Europe side made a dominating start to its Royal Trophy defense yesterday, winning the foursomes portion of the team tournament to take a 3 1/2 to 1/2 lead over Asia on the first day at the Amata Spring Country Club.
The scorching heat failed to benefit Joe Ozaki's Asian side, while strong winds only aided Europe captain Seve Ballesteros' players.
"I'm happy that our team leads 3 1/2 to 1/2 instead of 3 to 1 like I expected," Ballesteros said. "But I still have respect for the Asian team, which is capable of fighting back tomorrow in the fourball, which is unpredictable."
The Ryder Cup pair of Darren Clarke of Ireland and Englishman Lee Westwood lead S.K. Ho of South Korea and Toru Taniguchi of Japan all day before winning 4 and 3 to give Europe its first point.
The Europeans took their second point when Swedish duo Johan Edfors and Henrik Stenson of Sweden, who shot a bogey-free day, outclassed local Royal Trophy rookie Prom Meesawat and Japan's Tetsuji Hiratsuka 6 and 5.
The Asian's best chance came from Asian Tour Order of Merit winner Jeev Milkha Singh of India and South Korea's Y.E. Yang, who finished all square with Anthony Wall of England and Paul McGinley of Ireland to gain a half point.
Niclas Fasth and Robert Karlsson of Sweden beat Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee and Thaworn Wiratchant 3 and 1.
RSS