The Japanese pair of Ryo Ishikawa and Koukei Oda rallied to beat Europe’s playing captain Colin Montgomerie and Pablo Martin, helping Asia to a 2-1/2 to 1-1/2 lead after yesterday’s opening day at the Royal Trophy.
Ishikawa, the 18-year-old teen sensation, and Oda were two down after three holes before storming back to win the foursomes 3-and-2.
Europe leveled at 1-1 when Swedish pair Robert Karlsson and Alexander Noren won 4-and-2 over an erratic Charlie Wie of South Korea and Liang Wenchong of China.
PHOTO: EPA
The third match, pitching Indian pair Gaganjeet Bhullar and Jeev Milkha Singh against Peter Hanson of Sweden and Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark, was squared. Singh sank a nervous five-foot putt on the final hole to square it.
Thai pair Prayad Marksaeng and Thongchai Jaidee maintained their lead all afternoon to beat Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Simon Dyson of England 3-and-1 to put Asia in a strong position to defend the title won last year.
Montgomerie was happy to come away from the day only one point down at Amata Spring Country Club.
PHOTO: AFP
“I’m delighted how we escaped through it today. At one stage it was 1-3 down, it was a big different from 2-1/2 to 1-1/2,” Montgomerie told reporters.
“All credits to the players for coming back, especially Peter Hanson and Soren Kjedlsen to get that half point which was vital,” he said. “A good putt of Jeev Milkha Singh to be honest, or else it would be all square throughout the day.”
Martin and Montgomerie got off to a good start but the match turned following a great tee shot by Oda on the eighth and a chip in for birdie by Ishikawa on the 9th.
“I was not trying for the hole, just to get it close,” Ishikawa said. “But Koumei and I talked about it later and we both agreed those two holes gave us the momentum to go on and win the match.”
Martin said he and Montgomerie perhaps pushed too hard in trying to claw back the deficit, only winning one hole for the remainder of the round.
“Its difficult not to take chances when you are a couple behind,” Martin said.
Kjedlsen acknowledged he felt the pressure to step up and gain some points for his team knowing they were down early.
“It was important to get something out of our game, because I looked at the board and we were down in three matches at one stage,” he said.
“We gave away three holes on the back nine, going bogey, double bogey, bogey and we showed a lot of character to come back from that,” he continued. “It was a real seesaw match. We hardly halved a hole after the sixth, but it was fun to play in, and I’m sure it was great to watch too.”
Asia won last year’s competition after losing to Europe in the first two editions of the event.
The competition continues today with four-ball matches.
Bhullar and Singh will begin proceedings against Montgomerie and fellow Briton Dyson, while Wie and Liang will take on Hanson and Kjeldsen.
Two winning pairs from yesterday — Ishikawa and Oda against Karlsson and Noren — will set the stage for the crowd favorites Prayad and Thongchai against Stenson and Martin.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but