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Royal Trophy: Jeev loses singles

January 14, 2007 21:00 IST

Jeev Milkha Singh lost his match 3 and 2 to Robert Karlsson as Europe crushed Asia 3 + to 12 + points to retain the Royal Trophy at the Amata Spring Golf Club in Bangkok on Sunday.

Europe, who were leading 6 + to 1 +, lost just one match in the entire three-day contest and won five of the eight singles matches in the second edition of the tournament.

The only bright spot for the Asians was local superstar Thongchai Jaidee's 2 and 1 win over Sweden's Niclas Fasth in the day's final game.

Jeev, who had grabbed half a point each from his first two matches in foursomes and fourball, was trailing four-down after five holes, before he made a great recovery.

He closed the gap to one-down at the tenth. But then Karlsson, who won three titles last year in Europe, found his rhythm a gain and went three-up with two to go and closed the match on the 16th.

"It's fantastic. Asia played great but Europe played better," said European team captain Seve Ballesteros, who made sure he was on the last hole of virtually every match as it finished.

"Europe played unbelievable golf. It was no surprise because they beat the US badly.

"Asia did not play bad and they should be very proud of what they have done," he added.

Lee Westwood rallied from a point down to produce four birdies to beat Toru Taniguchi of Japan 4 and 3, while Ireland's Darren Clarke halved with Thailand's Prom Meesawat to start the final day's play and put the tournament out of Asia's reach.

Sweden's Johan Edfors beat SK Ho to seal outright victory.

Clarke, trailing by one stroke, took advantage of a bogey from Meesawat on the 17th hole to get back into the match before making a birdie on 18 to share the point.

The Europeans went on to win four of the remaining six matches, with Paul McGinley of Ireland beating Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant 2 and 1, and Swede Johan Edfors downing S.K. Ho of South Korea 3 and 2.

Englishman Anthony Wall overcame Japan's Tetsuji Hiratsuka 4 and 2, and Henrik Stenson of Sweden halved with Y E Yang.

 

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