South Korean duo Y. E. Yang and Kim Kyung-Tae produced a gutsy late fightback to prevent a European whitewash on the opening day of the Royal Trophy in Brunei. Two-down after 13 holes, the pair finished strongly to salvage a half point against Spaniards Miguel Angel Jimenez and Jose Maria Olazabal at the Empire Hotel and Country Club.
This prevented Naomichi 'Joe' Ozaki's Asia team from suffering the ignominy of losing all four foursomes to Europe. But they now go into Saturday's fourball matches trailing 3 1/2 - 1/2 in the Ryder Cup-style event. Despite hitting his tee shot out of bounds at 18 to lose the hole and allow Asia to escape with a half-point, captain Olazabal was delighted with his team's flying start.
"It's a good solid start for us," said Olazabal, who less than three months ago masterminded a famous European victory against America in the Ryder Cup. "I'm disappointed how I played the 18th hole, but looking at the big picture I'm happy." Swede Henrik Stenson and Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano produced a spectacular birdie barrage to put the first point on the board for Europe with a crushing 5 and 4 win over Japan's Ryo Ishikawa and Korean Bae Sang-Moon. Combining perfectly, the European pair made no fewer than nine birdies, including four in a row after the turn, which their opponents were unable to match.
Stenson and Fernandez-Castano were eight under par when victory was secured on the 14th green. Shortly after, Italian brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari completed a 2 and 1 success against Japan's Yoshinori Fujimoto and China's Wu Ashun. One-down through nine holes, the Molinaris struck a purple patch on the back nine to turn around their fortunes after the players had taken a two-hour break to observe the local Muslim prayer time.
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