Day 2
Day 1

January 10th 2010, Chonburi, Thailand: 

Charlie Wi beat Simon Dyson one up.

Dyson was left to reflect on a string of missed chances as Wi justified his captain's faith in him as his lead-off man by grinding out a precious point, thanks to his razor-sharp short game.

His opponent missed short birdie chances on the fourth, fifth, and eighth holes, and Dyson had steam coming out of his ears when he did the same thing on both the 15th and 16th holes.

With Wi clinging to a one hole lead, Dyson finally converted a birdie chance from five feet on the 17th to send the match down the last. But he drove into a bunker and compounded the mistake when his third shot, a delicate chip, failed to stay on the green.


Liang Wen-chong halved with Colin Montgomerie.

Europe's player-captain made the perfect start by sinking a 12 footer for a birdie on the opening hole, but if he thought his opponent was likely to be intimidated, he was sadly mistaken.

Liang matched his birdie on the second and after winning the third when Montgomerie carded the only bogey of a high quality contest, the Chinese player never trailed again - and led from the eighth to the 16th holes.

Montgomerie completed a clean sweep of birdies on all four par fives to level the match with two holes to play, and there was incredible drama on the final green. Liang sank a curling 20 footer for birdie on the final green - and Montgomerie amazingly matched him by holing from
15 feet.


Koumei Oda beat Alexander Noren 5&3.

This was the first match to finish - but not in the way most people expected after Noren had shot the lights in the foursomes and four-ball alongside Robert Karlsson, finishing 16 under par overall.

The Swedish player did not win a hole until the 11th - when he was already three down - and his four on that hole was his only birdie.

Oda had looked like he might prove a weak link with his erratic performance over the first two days. But he showed commendable composure, and bagged five birdies to claim an unexpected point.


Jeev Milkha Singh beat Robert Karlsson 2&1.

Singh produced a sensational start to take the wind out of Karlsson's sails after his emphatic victories over the previous 48 hours, starting with a hat-trick of birdies as he won the first four holes.

The Indian star was still leading by that big margin heading into the back nine, but Karlsson's winning birdie on the tenth seemed to cast a few seeds of doubts in Singh's mind.

He found water on the long 11th to run up a double bogey, and the margin was down to just one hole when Karlsson birdied the 14th. But Singh regained his composure with a wonderful tee shot to nine feet at the 17th to set up the decisive birdie.


Prayad Marksaeng lost to Pablo Martin 2&1.

There was precious little to choose between this pair as they shared eight birdies in the first ten holes, with Prayad's bogey at the fifth handing the young Spaniard a slender advantage.

It stayed that way until the 17th where both men hit glorious tee shots, both finishing within eight feet of the flag.

But to the dismay of the packed Thai galleries it was Martin who produced the killer putt, sinking his birdie effort to pile the pressure on Prayad - who watched in agony as his attempt to take the match to the last shaved the hole.


Ryo Ishikawa lost to Peter Hanson 5&4

This was another match in which the form book was turned upside down, with Hanson making a nonsense of his billing as a potential sacrificial lamb.

He rattled off five birdies in the first eight holes to charge to three up against the Japanese wonder kid, whose only mistake had been to put his tee shot in the water at the island hole eighth.

But he could not manage anything better than a par after that, and Hanson showed him how it was done with back-to-back birdies to close the match out on the 14th green. The under-rated Swede was an impressive six under par at the stage.


Gaganjeet Bhullar lost to Soren Kjeldsen 2&1.

Montgomerie's conviction that the Danish player had ice in his veins was thoroughly vindicated, as Kjeldsen stayed cool under the mounting pressure to put his team 8-7 ahead with the final pair locked together just behind them.

Kjeldsen had managed only a half point in the previous two days, but he rose to the occasion this time with five birdies in a bogey-free run to the 15th to take control of this match.

Bhullar produced a magical chip-in to keep the match alive at the 16th, but when Kjeldesn nailed a ten footer for birdie at the 17th the young Indian player could not match him, ensuring Europe could not lose
- unless it went to a play-off.


Thongchai Jaidee halved with Henrik Stenson.

The two captains' predictions that the fate of the Royal Trophy could all come down to this match proved uncannily accurate - and it produced an absolute cliffhanger.

World number seven Stenson clawed his way back from three down after nine holes against the newly-crowned Asian number one to level things up with three holes to go.

Thongchai had the Thai galleries whooping with delight after he regained the lead on the 17th with a birdie from eight feet, after Stenson had shaved the hole from a few inches further away.

It meant the match would go into a play-off unless Stenson won the final hole - and the big Swede coolly sank the winning putt from seven feet after Thongchai's 15 footer for par stopped agonizingly in the jaws of the hole.