ROYAL TROPHY NEWS RELEASE
Asia require three-and-a-half points from Sunday's eight singles matches against Europe to retain the Royal Trophy after the teams split Saturday's four-balls at the Dragon Lake Golf Club in Guangzhou, China to give the holders a 5-3 advantage.
- Eurosport - Japan's Ryo Ishikawa and Hiroyuki Fujita (AFP)
Leading 3-1 after Friday's foursomes, Asia stretched their advantage to three points thanks to Thai pair Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Thongchai Jaidee's 2 and 1 victory over Scots Paul Lawrie and Stephen Gallacher.
It was a second successive defeat for the Scots although not by such a big margin as they suffered - 5 and 3 - on Day 1.
Europe, led by Ryder Cup-winning captain Jose Maria Olazabal, looked set for victory in the second match with England's David Howell and Scotland's Marc Warren two up on the 17th tee against Liang Wenchong and Wu Ashun only to crumble at the finish.Chinese duo Liang and Wu went birdie-birdie over the closing holes to snatch what looked to be a crucial half with Howell and Warren only able to bogey the par-four 18th.
Austria's Bernd Wiesberger and Dane Thorbjorn Olesen managed Europe's only win of the day with a 2 and 1 victory over out-of-sorts Japanese pair Ryo Ishikawa and Hiroyuki Fujita to make the score 4.5-2.5 in Asia's favour.
South Korean duo Kim Hyung-sung and Kim Kyung-tae appeared on the verge of restoring Asia's three-point cushion in the final match but they too let slip a two-hole lead with two to play against Spain's Alvaro Quiros and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.
Quiros hit a brilliant approach from the trees to within four feet that set up a birdie on the last to grab the unlikely half and stay within two points of Asia.
Olazabal famously inspired Europe's Ryder Cup comeback at Medinah last year and hopes for a repeat performance. On that occasion, his team were four behind going into Sunday.
He said: "Getting a half in that last match has kept our hopes alive. If we have a solid start in the singles and put pressure on the Asian team then we can still turn it around."
Yang, meanwhile, is confident that his team can hang on and win the trophy back-to-back for the first time.
He said: "I'm a little disappointed with losing that final half a point and I was pretty nervous watching the last two matches. I hope we still have the momentum and that we can finish off the job in the singles."
RESULTS SO FAR
Day 1 - Asia 3, Europe 1.
Day 2 - Asia 1 1/2, Europe 1 1/2
Overall scoreline: Asia 4 1/2, Europe 2 1/2
Published by scottishgolfview.com