Day 1 of the Eurasia Cup was dominated by the European Team, an excellent performance saw them crush Asia.
European Team Captain Miguel Angel Jiménez / Getty Images
European Team captain Miguel Angel Jiménez lead by example as his team spanked the opposition 5-0 in the opening round of four-balls in the Eurasia Cup. Partnered by Pablo Larrazábal they set the standard in a 2 and 1 victory over Asia skipper Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat at the Glenmarie Golf & Country Club in Malaysia.
Pablo was full of praise for his captain;
“Miguel played great, he had like three or four birdie chances where he made birdie and he was amazing. I was there when he needed me but he played great.”
At the anchor end was Graeme McDowell, he had a 26-hour journey from Orlando after playing in the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday, but shook off any signs of jet-lag. He and partner Jamie Donaldson completed the whitewash victory beating Nicholas Fung and Kim Hyung-sung 3-1.
Graeme spoke about their some from behind victory;
“We somehow managed to make the turn at one-down, which was huge. And this guy {Jamie} had a phenomenal back nine. It was great to watch.”
Jaime admitted he and Graeme had a slow start to their match;
“We had a slow start. We had five pars which was quite slow, but after that Graeme holed a good couple of putts on the front nine and he birdied six, eight and nine and after that I played well and we dovetailed really well to close out the match on 17. We have had a very good day today. To be five nil up is a fantastic start.”
“We have always said during practice that we simply can’t underestimate our opponents because the end of the day, we are playing in Malaysia, it’s so hot and the courses favor them. We just had a very good day today and we have to not get complacent, get out tomorrow and continue to play well and not take it for granted, although we have had a very good start.”
In the middle matches Victor Dubuisson and Joost Luiten secured a 3&2 win over Prayad Marksaeng and Siddikur Rahman. Followed by Thomas Bjorn and Thorbjorn Olesen who had a two-up victory against Koumei Oda and Hideto Tanihara.
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Stephen Gallacher won 4&3 against Anirban Lahiri and Gaganjeet Bhullar.
The three-day EurAsia Cup continues on Friday, with the 10-man teams playing five more foursomes before the tournament concludes with singles matches on Saturday.
White Dragon Golf 