Europe produced a dominant display in the singles matches to run out 14-10 winners of the 2018 EurAsia Cup, which was held in Malaysia.
The 12-man team match play tournament, which is regarded as something of warm up for the Ryder Cup minus a few key European stars, was in the balance entering the final day singles. The teams, captained by Thomas Bjorn and Arjun Atwal respectively, were separated by just one point, with the home side leading 6.5-5.5.
But Bjorn’s battlers won seven of the first eight matches at Glenmarie Golf and Country Club to successfully complete the defense of their crown with several matches still out on course. All told, Europe secured eight victories in the singles session, with Asia managing just three wins and the other match finishing all square.
Belgium’s Thomas Pieters secured the winning point with a hard fought win over Byeong Hun An, although it was Sweden’s Alex Noren who set the ball rolling for Europe when beating Nicholas Fung 4&2 in the lead match to level the tournament at 6½-6½. Rafa Cabrera Bello then beat Gavin Green 4&3, before Tommy Fleetwood made it three in a row with a 2&1 victory against S.S.P Chawrasia.
Poom Saksansin got Asia’s first point of the day when he beat Paul Casey by one hole, but Henrik Stenson soon put another blue point on the board, beating Hideto Tanihara 2&1.
Bernd Wiesberger and Alex Levy then closed out their wins against Phachara Khongwatmai and Kiradech Aphibarnrat respectively to put Europe within a single point of victory, allowing Pieters to seal the deciding point. Tyrrell Hatton then beat Anirban Lahiri 2&1, before Matt Fitzpatrick halved his match against Sunghoon Kang.
Asia won the final two matches, with Li Haotong and Yuta Ikeda beating Paul Dunne and Ross Fisher respectively, but the day belonged to Bjørn’s men in blue who once again take the trophy back to Europe.
Speaking after the match, Bjørn said: “It was a great performance today from every single one of them. They came off the golf course yesterday and there was a determination and a will of wanting to win this. To then go out and do the job the way they did today shows a lot about the character of these 12 guys. I think that’s what I take away from this week, 12 great guys, 12 guys that wants to go places in the game of golf. To sit on the sidelines and watch them do what they do best has been a tremendous pleasure.”
He added: “It’s an emotional roller coaster for three days. You live every shot with your players, and you are missing putts, holing putts, winning holes, losing holes. You live every moment out there and you’ve got an idea of what all 12 are doing.”