The Royal Trophy 2011

On 7 – 9 January 2011, the Fifth Edition of the Royal Trophy golf championship played between the continents of Europe and Asia will take place at the magnificent Black Mountain Golf Club in the coastal city of Hua Hin in the Kingdom of Thailand. The prestigious and highly competitive team match-play continental Championship will feature eight players and a captain representing the Asian and European continents respectively in a series of sixteen foursomes, four-ball and singles matches.

“The Fourth Edition of the Royal Trophy was decided by the smallest possible margin on the final putt of the final hole in the final match of the Championship. I am confident that Black Mountain Golf Club will be great host for the Fifth Edition of the Championship and that the European and Asian Teams will deliver spectacular golf and a great Match,” said the European golfing legend Seve Ballesteros.

“I understand that we will be facing a very challenging golf course at Black Mountain Golf Club. But we will be prepared, we are determined and we are looking forward to the challenge,” said Japanese golfing giant and Asian Team Captain Naomichi ‘Joe’ Ozaki Ozaki.

"In the previous edition of the Royal Trophy the matches were very close and Europe prevailed by a single point, earned on the final day of singles. I am certain that we will face a strong Asian challenge but we will be prepared to play our best and to compete with great determination," said European Team Captain and Player, Colin Montgomerie, who has recently successfully defeated the Americans at the Ryder Cup in Wales.

Asia and Europe will renew their great rivalry at the magnificent Black Mountain Golf Club located in the Thai coastal town of Hua Hin, Thailand from 7 – 9 January 2011.
{more…}

The Royal Trophy originated from the vision of the legendary five-time Major winner Seve Ballesteros who intended to gift the Asian Continent with the same golf growth impetus the European Continent experienced in the 1980s and 1990s as a result of the Ryder Cup.
With dazzling good Mediterranean looks, a cavalier style and an athletically beautiful swing, the Spanish wizard Ballesteros was simply a sporting genius during his years on the Tour and amassed victories throughout the world. He made golf history winning 87 professional tournament titles, three British Open Championships, two Masters; playing in three winning Ryder Cup teams and captaining one of the most famous ones in 1997 at Valderrama.
Europe prevailed in the first two editions of the Championship while Asia secured a most historic victory over the European masters of team match play in 2009 – possibly the Asian Continent’s most important achievement in the sport to date.

The Fourth Edition of the Competition promised a fantastic celebration of golf and sport. But it delivered much more than anyone could expect. Asia prevailed in the first day foursomes matches but Europe stormed back to overtake Asian Team Captain’s Naomichi ‘Joe’ Ozaki’s team in the four-ball competition and commence the final day singles leading by a narrow single point margin. Captain Colin Montgomerie’s men would battle against Captain Ozaki’s best from Japan, Korea, China, India and Thailand for almost six hours on a beautiful Sunday afternoon over the immaculate Amata Spring Country Club fairways and greens.

Eight-time Ryder Cup player Montgomerie would himself be compelled to make a tremendous putt on the eighteenth green to secure a half point against China’s top golfer Liang Wen-chong in order to keep the European hopes alive and defend his unblemished record of, in nine separate appearances including eight in the Ryder Cup, never losing a singles match while wearing the European colors.

In the end it came down to the final match – Thailand’s top golfer Thongchai Jaidee in battle with world number seven, Players Championship and World Match Play Champion Henrik Stenson. In a most courageous effort Thongchai would birdie the seventeenth to edge ahead of Stenson and bring the record spectator galleries to eruption. On a testing eighteenth, Thongchai’s par putt would end less than an inch short while Stenson would hole what will certainly be one of the most pressure putts of the year to halve the match and capture the victory for the Europeans by one single point.

In the making of a most amazing sporting drama; the Fourth Edition of the Royal Trophy came down to the final putt of the final hole in the final match of the Championship. The Royal Trophy delivered the best of sport, the greatest level of competitive spirit and the utmost sportsmanship.

The Fourth Edition of the Royal Trophy brought Asia together to play as one, was witnessed by over 20,000 live spectators on the final day, was followed by millions of television viewers in 222 countries and territories worldwide and presented the Sponsors and their brands, the sport of golf and the Kingdom of Thailand in the most positive and powerful manner.