India's Jyoti Randhawa lost his singles showdown against Japan's Shingo Katayama but was delighted to be part of the winning team as Asia won the biennial Dynasty Cup golf for the second year in a row on Sunday.
The final scoreline read 14 to 9 in Asia's favour, as debutants Mardan Mamat and Angelo Que emerged as Asian team's heroes. Another debutante Amandeep Johl of India shared the spoils with Hiroyuki Fujita.
Asia, led by Hsieh Min-nan, claimed six out of the 12 singles and halved four to win competition in convincing fashion after trouncing Isao Aoki-led Japan on a glorious final day shootout at Mission Hills Golf Club.
"I played fantastic golf. I was five under and he was six under for the round and it was really good golf. I knew we had won the Cup on the 13th hole and that took the pressure off," said Randhawa, the former Asia number one on Order of Merit.
The ace Indian golfer also rated the win above the previous one in 2003 saying the standard of the event had gone up in the last couple of years.
"I have always said that Asian players are strong and we showed them again. Perhaps now, we need to go to Japan and play in conditions which are favourable to them but this doesn't take anything away from what we have achieved with the two wins. Compared to 2003 this is fantastic. This event has grown by five times in two years," he said.
China's Zhang Lian-wei once again proved to be the talisman for the team winning his singles encounter against Japan's Shigeki Maruyama on the final day to keep his unbeaten record intact in the biennial event.
Zhang defeated Maruyama 3 and 2 in a clash of the titans singles match at which left the Chinese number one with the brilliant statistics of played six, won six.
Just as he did two years Zhang formed an unbeatable partnership with compatriot Liang Wen-chong in the Foursome and Fourball matches on the first two days and proved too strong in singles.
"I'm really happy to have won all my six matches in this competition. I just love matchplay events and I'm confident of teaming up with Liang Wen-chong. We are just a good partnership," said Zhang, a five-time winner on the Asian Tour.
Zhang was all square with Maruyama with six to play and stormed to victory with a birdie on 13, and an eagle two on the par four 15th by holing his second shot. A par was enough to secure the match on 16.
His point was part of a memorable final day performance by the Asian team who dominated the singles to win the second Dynasty Cup.
"This is also a great event for us to get together and play Japan and I'm really looking forward to playing again in 2007. I'm glad to repay the captain's faith as I was a wildcard and I'm looking forward to two years time. This is a great event," added the Chinese star.
