Asia put its best foot forward for the foursomes at the EurAsia Cup, but Europe fired back and managed to mantain its dominating presence in the tournament going into the individual rounds tomorrow (7-3). Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, newly paired with Stephen Gallacher, went up half a point for the European cause to halve the dual with Japanese counterparts, Koumei Oda and Hideto Tanihara.
It was a relentless, non-stop rally with lots of movement, a bit strange. Gonzalo and Gallacher took control of the situation quickly and won the 2nd, 6th and 7th, and they finished the first nine holes with a more than comfortable cushion of a 3-hole advantage and exceptional results with the sudden turn of events at 3-under par.
Everything seemed to be under control, until the Japanese twosome decided to rebel. They came back with three birdies in four holes (the 11th through the 14th) to tie it up. They also won on hole 15 with a par, adding even more drama to the situation. The Spaniard and the Scot suddenly found themselves being cornered, and the pressure was on with just three holes to go.
They played an excellent 16, only to be tied with a birdie, but Fernández-Castaño acted fast with a spectacular shot on hole 17 (par 3). The ball landed a meter and a half from the hole and Gallacher sank the putt to make the birdie. Tie game on the 18th, where Gonzalo fired off a great shot once again from the left rough, leaving the ball well positioned for a birdie for the Scot, but this time it just didn't want to land in the hole. In the end, half a point for each team.
The rest of the games ended up as follows:
Jiménez and Larrazábal halved against Jaidee and Aphibarnrat
Bjorn and Olesen lost to Marksaeng and Kim 3 and 2
McDowell and Donaldson won Vs. Bhullar and Fung 2 and 1
Dubuisson and Luiten lost to Lahiri and Siddikur 1 up
Tomorrow, they'll compete in the 10 individual matches where the definitive winner will be decided for the first ever edition of the EurAsia Cup at the Glenmarie course in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
