Eurasia Cup: Advantage Europe

SHAH ALAM (MALAYSIA): Jeev Milkha Singh never celebrated like this before When Malaysian local hero Danny Chia chipped in on the 18th to halve the fourballs match against Europe's Vic tor Dubuisson and Soren Kjeldsen, the Asia captain jumped up and broke into a high-five with Chia. Tense before the shot, relief after. A half point so precious to the hosts as they lag behind 1 and and half to Europe's 4 and a half on the opening day at the Glenmarie Golf & Country Club.
"I look back two years ago when we were down 0-5 on Day 1. At least we have a start and we can build on that," said the skipper later, recalling the comeback story at the 2014 EurAsia Cup.
The one point was gained by Korea's in-form Byeong Hun An and Thai journeyman Thongchai Jaidee. 0-2 down at the turn against the English pair of Danny Willett and Matthew Fitzpatrick, the European Tour Rookie of the Year sunk an eagle on the 11th followed by winning birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th. A par putt on the 17th sealed it for a 3&1. "Well I looked at the board and saw it was all blue and the first thing was we have to win our matches. I think we have a good chemistry going on here," said An, whose parents are Olympic medal-winners in table tennis.
Jeev will trust the duo to build some momentum on Saturday morning as they begin the proceedings in the trickier foursomes against matchplay expert Ian Poulter and Willett. "They made a great comeback and I could feel Chia and Nicholas Fung feeding off this. Even SSP Chawrasia and Aphibarnrat made a lot of birdies, it's just that Westwood and Wood made more," said Jeev.
With the greens really firm, it all comes down to holing those long putts, and the Asian team was practising hard for the weekend battle. A few partnership changes were made, depending on comfort and brand of balls, as foursomes require one ball per team with partners taking alternate shots. As for Europe, captain Darren Clarke has ensured there's no complacency as there are still 18 points to be won but the Northern Irishman knows that his experienced picks Poulter and Westwood may prove to be his aces.
DAY 1: Europe leads Asia 4 12 to 1 12; Fourballs: Ian Poulter Bernd Wiesberger (Eur) bt Anirban LahiriJeung Hun Wang (Asia) 4&3; Danny WillettMatthew Fitzpatrick (Eur) lost to Byeong Hun AnThongchai Jaidee (Asia) 3&1; Victor Dubuisson Soren Kjeldsen (Eur) vs Danny ChiaNicholas Fung (Asia) match halved; Ross FisherKristoffer Broberg (Eur) bt Prayad MarksaengKT Kim (Asia) 6&4; Shane LowryAndy Sullivan (Eur) bt Shingo KatayamaWu Ashun (Asia) 2&1; Lee WestwoodChris Wood (Eur) bt SSP ChawrasiaKiradech Aphibarnrat (Asia) 2&1 Saturday's foursomes: PoulterWillett vs AnJaidee; WiesbergerFisher vs KimWang; BrobergWood vs Chawrasia Aphibarnrat; LowrySullivan vs KatayamaMarksaeng; KjeldesenDubuisson vs ChiaFung; WestwoodFitzpatrick vs Lahiri Ashun