Olazabal inspires Europe to Royal Trophy win
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Europe overcame a two-point deficit to defeat Asia on a dramatic final day of the Royal Trophy at Dragon Lake Golf Club.
Jose Maria Olazabal, who oversaw a similarly thrilling Ryder Cup win against the United States at Medinah last year, again captained Europe for the annual event in Guangzhou, China.
His side began Sunday’s play 5-3 down and lost the first two singles. But the lower order hit back and their 8½-7½ victory was secured when Nicolas Colsaerts rolled in a short putt on the penultimate green.
In-form Kiradech Aphibarnrat beat Paul Lawrie 3&2 and Stephen Gallacher was defeated 4&2 by Thongchai Jaidee in the opening two singles matches, meaning Asia led 7-3 and needed only 1½ more points from the remaining six.
A glimmer of hope came when Marc Warren beat Ryo Ishikawa and then David Howell astonishingly went from being three down with four holes to play to beating HS Kim on the final green.
The rush stopped partly as KT Kim halved with Alvaro Quiros, but Europe quickly got a move on again as rising star Thorbjorn Olesen saw off Wu Ashun with two holes to spare.
Bernd Wiesberger then notched four birdies between the 10th and 15th holes to earn a 3&2 win over Hiroyuki Fujita after they had reached the halfway stage level.
The fate of the trophy would be decided by the winner of the final match, between Colsaerts and Liang Wen-chong.
The Belgian edged ahead and then twice recovered as his opponents nipped in front, before taking the lead again with three holes left. Colsearts holed a clutch par putt on 17 to stay 1up going down the last. A three-putt from Liang on the final green gave Europe victory.