In mid-2005, the perpetual Royal Trophy was donated by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand as the principal award for the Competition, and the magnificent Amata Spring Country Club in Bangkok was selected as the venue. Meanwhile, blue-chip coporations supported the Royal Trophy including Heineken, BMW, Siam Commercial Bank, national oil and gas giant PTT, Thai telecom powerhouse i-mobile and the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The stage was set, so to speak, for the inaugural event.
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The respective teams were announced by November 2005, with the legendary Ballesteros himself taking charge as captain for Europe, while Japan's 30-time Tour winner Masahiro 'Massy' Kuramoto would take charge of the Asian team. A great selection of European players were designated to defend the pride of the Ryder Cup holders: Europe's current Order of Merit leader David Howell, the man who sunk the critical Ryder Cup winning putt in 2002 Paul McGinley, three-time Major runner-up Thomas Bjorn, six-time Major winner Nick Faldo, former Masters champion Ian Woosnam, European Tour title winners Kenneth Ferrie and Henrik Stenson, and one of Europe's brightest stars for the future Graeme McDowell. Spain, England, Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Sweden and Denmark were to be represented in the European Team.
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The Asian Team was to include three of the top Asian players: Thaworn Wiratchant, Thongchai Jaidee and Jyoti Randhawa, three of the top four Japan Tour players, Yasuharu Imano, SK Ho and Keiichiro Fukabori, India's full-time US PGA player Arjun Atwal and China's golf ambassador Zhang Lian-Wei. The Asian players represented China, Japan, India, Korea and Thailand. The colourful team would also face the challenge of overcoming political sensitivities between the nations including Japan and China and the great responsibility of representing over three billion people.
Great excitement built up in Asia; for the first time in history the massive Region was putting together a Team to represent the Continent in a major sporting competition. It was also decided that Europe would play in blue while Asia would be red - the colours of the massive Chinese communist state, the world's second largest economy, Japan and one of the national colours of the host country.
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The biggest winner at the event was the sport of golf. "The Royal Trophy was great for the players, the fans that came to the event, the television viewers, for Thailand, really for everyone involved. But the biggest winner was golf and the people of Asia and Europe who now have this new great competition to look forward to," said the charismatic Ballesteros. "The young people of Asia can now dream about wearing that red shirt one day..."
The memorable week was probably best summarised by the living legend Ballesteros again: "Life is made up of great moments of happiness and significance. These are the ones you remember, they stay with you. The Royal Trophy provided many of these..."
Royal Trophy 2006:
The full results Asia 7, Europe 9 Sunday (Singles) Asia 5, Europe 3
Yasuharo Imano (Jpn) bt David Howell (Eng) 2-up
Zhang Lian-Wei (PRC) lost to Paul McGinley (Ire) 2 & 1
Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) lost to Graeme McDowell (Nir) 3 & 2
Arjun Atwal (Ind) bt Nick Faldo (Eng) 3 & 2
Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) bt Ian Woosnam (Wal) 2 & 1
SK Ho (Kor) bt Kenneth Ferrie (Eng) 2 & 1
Keiichiro Fukabori (Jpn) bt Thomas Bjorn (Den) 4 & 3
Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) lost to Henrik Stenson (Swe) 5 & 4
Saturday (Foursomes) Asia 1, Europe 3
SK Ho (Kor) & Keiichiro Fukabori (Jpn) lost to David Howell (Eng) & Kenneth Ferrie (Eng) 2-up
Arjun Atwal (Ind) & Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) lost to Paul McGinley (Ire) & Graeme McDowell (Nir) 4&3
Yasuharu Imano (Jpn) & Zhang Lian-Wei (PRC) lost to Thomas Bjorn (Den) & Henrik Stenson (Swe) 1-up
Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) & Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) bt Nick Faldo (Eng) & Ian Woosnam (Wal) 6&5
Saturday (Four-ball) Asia 1, Europe 3
Arjun Atwal (Ind) & Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) beat David Howell (Eng) & Kenneth Ferrie (Eng) 1-up
SK Ho (Kor) & Zhang Lian-Wei (PRC) lost to Graeme McDowell (Nir) & Paul McGinley (Ire) 2 & 1
Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) & Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) lost to Thomas Bjorn (Den) & Ian Woosnam (Wal) 3 & 2
Keiichiro Fukabori (Jpn) & Yasuharu Imano lost to Nick Faldo (Eng) & Henrik Stenson (Swe) 1-up |
