Europe still reign in Royal Trophy

Europe continued to dominate the Royal Trophy midway through the second day’s play as Seve Ballesteros’ team led Joe Ozaki’s Asian side in two of the four fourball pairings at the Amata Spring Country Club.

Ballesteros’ team took a 3.5-0.5 lead from the opening day’s foursomes and a solid start has put the Europeans in a strong position with Sunday’s singles still to come.

Once again, Ryder Cup duo Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke led the way for Europe, taking charge of their encounter with Thai pairing Thongchai Jaidee and Prom Meesawat.

Clarke and Westwood found themselves a hole down by the end of the first after Prom Meesawat birdied the opener but an eagle from Westwood at the second restored parity and the Englishman’s two at the par-three fourth put the Europeans in front.

Clarke’s birdie at the fourth extended the lead and, although Jaidee’s birdie halved the deficit at the eighth, the Europeans were two ahead at the turn thanks to Westwood’s par.

Asia’s resistance took the form of the Tetsuji Hiratsuka and Thaworn Wiratchant pairing, who raced into a two-hole lead with birdies at the first two holes against Anthony Wall and Paul McGinley.

Japanese star Hiratsuka claimed both of those before Wiratchant weighed in with a perfectly-weighted 20-foot putt at the par-three eighth to claim a two and move the Asian team three clear.

Swedish duo Johan Edfors and Henrik Stenson picked up where they left off after their comfortable opening-day win by going three-up after five holes against YE Yang and Toru Taniguchi.

Both golfers birdied the first to claim that hole before Stenson’s two at the fifth doubled the Europeans’ lead while another birdie at the sixth for Stenson left the Asians three down.

Taniguchi’s birdie at the seventh pulled one back for the Asians only for Edfors to win the eighth with a par.

Asian number one Jeev Milkha Singh and playing partner SK Ho were also working hard to keep the European onslaught in check against Swedes Niclas Fasth and Robert Karlsson.

The Asians won the first hole thanks to a birdie by Korean Ho only for Karlsson to square up the match with an eagle at the next.

Fasth’s birdie put the Europeans ahead at the third but the match was all-square once again thanks to Singh’s fourth-hole birdie and the match stayed that way all the way through to the eighth.