PTI
Shah Alam, January 8
All excited to lead Asia, seasoned Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh today said he is confident of being the first captain to win the EurAsia Cup outrightly against Europe next week at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club here.
The Indian star, who is a two-time Asian Tour number one and multiple winner in Japan and Europe, will lead the continent into battle against a Darren Clarke-led Team Europe at the second edition of the EurAsia Cup from January 15-17.
The inaugural edition in 2014 ended with both teams sharing the spoils after an enthralling 10-10 tie and Singh hopes to become the first captain to win the EurAsia Cup outright.
“I’m looking forward to making sure this captain wins the EurAsia Cup for Asia. The respect has been given to me by the Asian Tour and the players for making me the captain. I’ll make sure I’ll take care of them and get them across the line.
I want the players to play well, I want to make sure that I get them to win for Asia,” said Singh.
The 44-year-old, who will be assisted by Liang Wen-chong of China, has already drawn out his battle plan against Team Europe, led by Clarke who is also the European Ryder Cup Captain.
“Match play is calculated and aggressive golf. Calculated and aggressive golf is the right way to play match play, not like how you would play stroke play,” said Singh.
“I will tell the players that. It’s helped me in match play. Once you’re up at the start of a match, it’ll help in building momentum for your match and the team.” While Team Europe will also boast a formidable team featuring heavyweights such as the English duo of Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, both Ryder Cup stalwarts in recent European teams, Singh is upbeat of his own team’s chances.
“For sure Asia can win it. There are three reasons -- home advantage, my belief in my team’s ability and the third point will be that every player will be giving 100 per cent for Asia which is the most important thing in this event,” said Singh.The EurAsia Cup will feature 24 matches, with day one showcasing six Four-ball matches, followed by six Foursomes matches and 12 Singles matches on the third day.
The winning team will share prize money of USD 3.6 million while the runners-up will share USD 1.2 million. Team Asia will feature Anirban Lahiri, S.S.P. Chawrasia, Thongchai Jaidee, Danny Chia, Byeonghun An, Shingo Katayama, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, K.T. Kim, Nicholas Fung, Jeunghun Wang, Prayad Marksaeng and Wu Ashun. Team Europe will include Danny Willet, Ross Fisher, Victor Dubuisson, Chris Wood, Andy Sullivan, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Bernd Wiesberger, Soren Kjeldsen, Kristoffer Broberg, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.
