Shenzhen (China): Asia put up a stronger than expected showing and came out with
honours shared at the end of opening day of the inaugural Phoenix Dynasty Cup which
began at the magnificent World Cup course of the Mission Hill Golf Club on Friday.
The local pair of Zhang Lian-wei and Liang Wen-chong gave the Asian team a perfect
start beating Hajime Meshiai and Nobuhito Sato on the final hole.
The Thai duo of Thongchai Jaidee and Prayad Marksaeng won 2 and 1 against Toru
Suzuki and Katsunori Kuwabara, while India's Jyoti Randhawa and Korean Charlie Wi
combined to beat Kiyoshi Murota and Yasuharu Imano by a similar margin.
The Japanese pulled back through Hiroki Fujita and Katsumasa Miyamoto, who came back
from two down to beat the Indian pair of Arjun Atwal and Jeev Milkha Singh 3 and 1,
Taichi Teshima and Keiichiro Fukabori beat Lin Keng-chi and Kang Wook-soon 1-up,
while Tommy Nakajima and Tomohiro Kon do were a 2 and 1 winner against Thammanoon
Srirot and Thaworn Wiratchant.
Japanese captain Isao Aoki was lavish in his praise for the Asian team. "The score
line suggests that the Asian team is very good. We are happy with the way our team
played on Friday because I knew that the players would be a little nervous on the
opening day," said the legendary Japanese golfer, winner of over 75 professional
titles in his career.
"I was a bit worried after the first nine holes as we seemed to be down on most of
the matches. Bjn the Asian team fought back well and has every reason to be proud
of," said Asian skipper Hsieh Min-nan.
Randhawa, the No. 1 player on the Asian PGA Tour in 2002, and Wi were in the final
four ball and needed to win their match with Japan leading 3-2 at that stage. The
Asians lost the opening two holes but combined well thereafter.
They won the third and fifth to draw level. After being one down on the 14th tee,
they turned up the heat and won the next three holes to go two-up after 16. Once the
17th was halved, the Asian team got the necessary point to draw level with Japan.
The Indian gave credit to Wi for the victory. "Charlie started hitting balls
straight at the pins on the back nine and made it a lot easier for me," said the 30-
year-old who made a nerve-wracking four-footer putt on the 17th hole to win the
match for Asia.
Jeev and Arjun started off in rousing fashion and won the first when Miyamoto duffed
his second shot from the fairway bunker and were two-up when they made a birdie on
the third.
Things started going wrong for the Indian pair on the par-3 fifth when Jeev hit his
tee shot to the left of the green and Arjun's chip went almost 20 ft past the hole.
The Japanese pulled level on the very next hole when Arjun faced a difficult bunker
shot on the par-5 sixth and hit it way over the green.
PTI
