First EurAsia Cup ends in draw after Asia comeback

A STUNNING fightback from Team Asia saw the inaugural EurAsia Cup presented by DRB-HICOM end in a 10-10 draw after a thrilling final day at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur.

Team Asia and Team Europe celebrate together after the first EurAsia Cup finished in a tie. Picture: Getty

Trailing 7-3 overnight going into the singles session – and having been 5-0 behind after the first day’s fourball session – not many observers gave Thongchai Jaidee’s team much realistic hope of turning matters around.

But they did just that, winning the session 7-3 to see the gleaming silver trophy shared at the end of the day with Miguel Angel Jiménez’s European troops.

Hailed as ‘The Ryder Cup of the East’ before the tournament started, the event certainly lived up to that lofty billing, producing drama of the kind normally reserved only for the biennial contest between Europe and the United States.

In the end, the fate of the EurAsia Cup – with the score tied at 9 ½ - 9 ½ - lay in the hands of Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño and Hideto Tanihara of Japan, whose ding-dong battle saw them all square playing the last hole in the last match on the course.

With both players on the 18th green in two, Fernandez-Castaño putted down to four feet while Tanihara’s effort stopped a foot and a half from the hole. Under intense pressure, the Spaniard held his nerve to roll his par effort into the back of the cup before sportingly conceding the Japanese player’s putt.