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Strong finish keeps Asia in front
News

Strong finish keeps Asia in front

Asia will head into Sunday's Singles matches with a one-point lead after finishing with a flourish on day two of the EurAsia Cup presented by DRB-HICOM.

Hideto Tanihara and Phachara Khongwatmai

Europe had looked on course to banish the memory of their 3½-2½ defeat in Friday's Fourball session when they put the first three points on the board on Saturday.

But the momentum shifted Asia's way as the second day drew to a close, with victory in the three other matches handing them a 6½-5½ overall lead.

Europe looked in control early on Saturday and were ahead in three matches and all square in the other three as the morning turned into the afternoon at Glenmarie Golf and Country Club.

Race to Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood was once again sent out to lead the visitors on Saturday and, playing alongside Ryder Cup star Henrik Stenson, delivered a 3 and 2 win against Anirban Lahiri and S.S.P Chawrasia.

Fleetwood, who alongside fellow Englishman Paul Casey had won the first point in the Fourball matches, holed the winning putt from four feet at the 16th to level the tournament.

And with Casey and Tyrrell Hatton wrapping up a 2 and 1 win against Byeong Hun An and Kiradech Aphibarnrat shortly after, Europe took an overall 4½-3½ lead.

Europe looked to be cruising when Matthew Fitzpatrick and Thomas Pieters' 3 and 2 win against Sunghoon Kang and Poom Saksansin ensured they could not lose the session but the tide then turned in Asia's favour.

Yuta Ikeda and Gavin Green delivered the result of the day as they won three of the last four holes to beat Alex Levy and Rafa Cabrera Bello by one hole and secure an unlikely point for Arjun Atwal's side.

Hideto Tanihara and 18 year old Phachara Khongwatmai then beat Paul Dunne and Alex Noren in a repeat of yesterday's Fourball match, winning 2 and 1.

And yet more remarkable putting from Li Haotong helped him and Nicholas Fung to a 3 and 1 victory against Bernd Wiesberger and Ross Fisher in the tail match.

Fitzpatrick and Pieters notched seven birdies in their 16 holes as they swept aside Kang and Saksansin, who had been so impressive against Stenson and Levy on Friday.

Yorkshireman Fitzpatrick, who along with Pieters tasted defeat in their Fourball match on day one, said: "We played great. We really felt like we played great yesterday, too. We just didn't hole any putts and that was probably the difference today.

"We were seven under as a pair and could have easily been three or four more. So yeah, it was a good day."

Big-hitting Belgian Pieters said: "We missed two fairways by an inch, so we were never in trouble. We hit a lot of good iron shots, a lot of good drives and yesterday, didn't make any putts. Today, we made a couple and hopefully tomorrow, they will drop."

Casey and Hatton were also impressive as they both delivered their second point of the tournament so far.

Hatton was thrilled with their day's work. He said: "Today was great. We played very solid and made ourselves hard to beat. They were tough opponents.

"Overall, very happy to get another point."

Casey said: "We both played well. Tyrrell is a great partner. I keep picking good partners, so that's the key to my success."

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