Montgomerie inspires Europe to victory

January 10, 2011 07:06 pm | Updated 07:27 pm IST - HUA-HIN:

090111-HUA HIN-THAILAND: Team Europe captain Scott Montgomerie of Scotland poses with the Royal Trophy on January 9, 2011 after the final day of the Royal Trophy, the 5th edition between Asia and Europe, in the Ryder Cup style event at the Black Mountain Golf Club, Hua Hin, Thailand, January 7-9, 2011. The final score was Europe 9 â Asia-7.  Picture by Paul Lakatos / Entertainment Group.

090111-HUA HIN-THAILAND: Team Europe captain Scott Montgomerie of Scotland poses with the Royal Trophy on January 9, 2011 after the final day of the Royal Trophy, the 5th edition between Asia and Europe, in the Ryder Cup style event at the Black Mountain Golf Club, Hua Hin, Thailand, January 7-9, 2011. The final score was Europe 9 â Asia-7. Picture by Paul Lakatos / Entertainment Group.

Europe's player-captain, Colin Montgomerie, felt that players on the Asian team will benefit from the 7-9 reverse suffered in the 5th Royal Trophy Golf 2011 on Sunday.

Going into the final day down 2-6, Montgomerie's victory over Kim Kyung-Tae and inspiring presence saw Europe retain the trophy with a 7-1 victory in the singles at the Black Mountain golf course.

"It is all about how you respond to setbacks like that. If the Asian Team grows stronger as a result of what they are going through, the negative feelings will soon be forgotten."

Gaining experience

Europe's inspiration in Ryder Cup and now Royal Trophy, Montgomeriee observed: "Asian players are gaining that vital experience all the time, they will have learned lessons from this defeat that will serve them well in the future.

"Asian golf is far stronger than it was five years ago, once they become a bit more battle-hardened in matchplay, they will be a handful for any European team."

Asia lost the title after an outstanding show in the four-ball format took it 6-2 up going into day three.

"A 7-1 margin in singles looks awful on paper, that does not really reflect just how close a lot of the matches were. Half of the eight ties went down to the final hole -- and in every one of them Europe birdied the hole, Asia managed only one birdie," said Montgomerie, extending his record of not losing a singles match in European colours.

The Royal Trophy Golf, organised by Sports Authority of Thailand and the Tourism Authority of Thailand for the fifth time, brought together the best of Asian and European golfers for an event designed on the lines of the Ryder Cup.

Competition was held over three days in foursome, four-ball and singles formats to decide the winner.

The scores:

Foursomes: Non Seung-Yul & Liang Wen-Chong (Asia) bt Hendrik Stenson & Johan Edfors (Europe) 3 and 2; Colin Montgomerie & Rhys Davies (E) bt Kim Kyung-Tae & Yuta Ikeda (A) 2 and 1; Shunsuke Sonada & Ryo Ishikawa (A) bt Matteo Manassero & Pablo Martin (E) 3 and 2; Peter Hanson & Frederik Andersson (E) bt Jeev Milkha Singh & Thongchai Jaidee (A) 7 and 5.

Four-balls: Seung-Yul & Wen-Chong (A) bt Montgomerie & Davies (E) 5 and 4; Sonada & Ishikawa (A) bt Manassero & Martin (E) 3 and 2; Kyung-Tae & Jeev (A) bt Stenson & Edfors (E) 1 up; Ikeda & Jaidee (A) bt Hanson & Andersson (E) 3 and 1.

Singles: Wen-Chong (A) lost to Hanson (E) 7 and 6; Seung-Yul (A) halved with Stenson (E); Ikeda (A) lost to Andersson (E) 2 and 1; Ishikawa (A) lost Davies (E) 4 and 0; Sonada (A) lost to Manassero (E) 1down; Kyung-Tae (A) lost to Montgomerie (E) 2 and 1; Jeev (A) lost Martin (E) 1 down; Jaidee (A) halved with Edfors (E).

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.