GOLF - ROYAL TROPHY: José Maria Olazábal believes his European Team are capable of mounting a strong comeback to retain the Royal Trophy after losing the opening day foursomes session 3-1 to an inspired Asian Team at the Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand.
After making a superb start in the alternate shot format - Europe led all four matches in the early part of the day - the Asian Team were inspired by the Thai pairing of Thongchai Jaidee and Prayad Marksaeng.
They defeated the Swedish duo of Johan Edfors and Niclas Fasth 5 and 4 and won a further two matches on the 18th green, much to the delight of the huge home crowds.
Scotland's Paul Lawrie and Dane Søren Hansen had taken the first point of the day with a 2 and 1 win over teen sensation Ryo Ishikawa and Toru Taniguchi of Japan
However news of Jaidee and Marksaeng's win swept through the crowd to ensure Charlie Wi and Liang Wen-Chong, and then SK Ho and Hideto Tanihara, won their respective matches against Nick Dougherty and Oliver Wilson and Pablo Larrazabal and Paul McGinley.
But European captain Olazábal believes his players have the ability and confidence to overturn the early deficit.
"I believe in the players we have and the pairings that we have," said Olazábal, who named an unchanged line-up for tomorrow's fourballs. "The boys know that they didn't play up to the standards that we are used to seeing from them today and they face a very tough challenge.
"We are going to have play really well in the next couple of days to win this event. The players know that we need to put our foot down on the gas and really push the pedal. I have said all along this week that we a great respect for the Asian Team, but we believe that we can win here and tomorrow we are going to have to play our guts out."
Dougherty, Larrazabal, McGinley and Wilson were desperately disappointed to lose their matches on the 18th green.
Wilson said: "Nick and I didn't play well at all. At the end of the day we lost that match and we should never have lost it from the position that we were in. We got off to a good start and then a few poor shots and hit some very poor chips today.
"If we could have kept the pressure on the Asian Team when we were two up then we would have been pretty comfortable. We didn't so well today, it was a poor performance on our behalf.
"But there is a long way to go though and we are still very confident. We know that it is important to get off to a good start in matchplay and we haven't done that.
"We have to get together and get our heads together and turn it on in the next couple of days. The first day is over now and we move on and get plenty of points on the board tomorrow."
"Paul and I played really well for the first eight holes," added Larrazabal. "We were three up but I think we just lost the concentration a little bit and then lost the momentum we had after putting the ball in the water in the ninth.
"Then, all of a sudden, they won three holes in a row and we were back to all square. Tomorrow is a new day and we will have to go out there and attack and be very aggressive."
Today's Results (Foursomes)
Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn)/Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) lost to Paul Lawrie (Sco)/Soren Hansen (Den) 2 and 1
Charlie Wi (Kor)/Liang Wen-chong (PRC) beat Paul McGinley (Ire)/Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 2 up
Hideto Tanihara (Jpn)/S.K. Ho (Kor) beat Nick Dougherty (Eng)/Oliver Wilson (Eng) 1 up
Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)/Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) beat Niclas Fasth (Swe)/Johan Edfors (Swe) 5 and 4
Saturday's Draw (Fourballs)
Ryo Ishikawa/Toru Taniguchi v Soren Hansen (Den)/Paul Lawrie (Sco)
Charlie Wi (Kor)/Liang Wen-chong (PRC) v Nick Dougherty (Eng)/Oliver Wilson (Eng)
Hideto Tanihara (Jpn)/S.K. Ho (Kor) v Niclas Fasth (Swe)/Johan Edfors (Swe)
Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)/Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) v Pablo Larrazabal (Esp)/Paul McGinley (Ire)
