Taiwan's Hsieh Min-nan (謝敏男) leads Thongchai Jaidee and Japan's Nobuhito Sato into the inaugural Dynasty Cup which tees off at Mission Hills Golf Club tomorrow.
Asia's non-playing captain Hsieh said he had assembled the 12 finest players to represent the region and was confident of victory.
"We've got possibly the best players representing the team this week. I feel confident of winning," he said.
PHOTO: AFP
The Taiwanese veteran said Asian golf would also benefit from staging the Dynasty Cup.
"This competition will be fantastic for us and I'm sure it'll be very exciting. I have the pairings for the foursomes in mind but will leave it until the draw tomorrow to announce them," he said.
Former Thai soldier Thongchai is fired up for the Ryder Cup-style match and has also put his hand up to represent his team in a sudden-death play-off if the match ends in a tie after Sunday's singles matches.
Tournament organizers have decided the inaugural event will have an outright winner.
"It is an honor to represent Asia against Japan and I'm looking forward to the challenge," said Thongchai, who finished top in the Asian Dynasty Cup rankings.
Sato, who was second in last year's Japan Tour money list after winning three times, is seen as the Japanese team's talisman.
"When I arrived in Shenzhen, I saw a huge billboard of the Dynasty Cup. My picture was on it and it stated that I'm the number one player in the team. After seeing that, I feel it is my duty to play well," said Sato, who turned 33 yesterday.
The Dynasty Cup begins tomorrow with six foursomes matches, followed by six fourball matches on Saturday before concluding with 12 singles matches on Sunday.
The teams need 12 and a half points to win the inaugural biannual showdown.
Japan captain Isao Aoki
conceded that Asia may have an edge over his team because their players are well into the Asian PGA season while the Japanese Tour stars have yet to return following the winter break.
With one more practice round scheduled for today, Aoki is yet to name his foursome.
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