Neither Europe or Asia-Pacific opened an advantage on Thursday at La Manga Club, Spain.
Both teams are tied at five points at the end of day 1 of the Bonallack Trophy, where each of them managed to win one of the two sessions.
First on the board in the morning’s foursomes were Sweden’s Albert Hansson and Tobias Jonsson, cruising to victory in match number 3, 6&5. Two other full points came quickly for the Europeans, with Norway’s Michael Mjaaseth and Herman Sekne beating New Zealand’s Joshua Bai and Mako Thompson, 5&3. Coming back from a slow start, James Ashfield and Alex Maguire scored a point of their own in match number four.
First and last match of the session ended up with the arrow pointing Asia-Pacific’s way. Australia’s Harrison Crowe and Jack Buchanan took the lead through 12 holes, building on their opponents’ mistakes. On the 17th green, a solid birdie putt by Crowe ended the match, 3&1.
The most spectacular match of the morning was indeed the last. Trailing by two holes with five to play, Luis Masaveu and Frederik Kjettrup put out their best golf to try and close the gap. But Korea’s Wooyoung Cho and Yubin Jang showed all their resistance, making back to back key putts on 14 and 15, and closing the match with a last brilliant birdie on the 16th.
Europe thus entered the afternoon’s fourballs with a one point lead. But Asia-Pacific quickly showed their intentions, once again lead by Buchanan and Crowe. Even having to fight trough a couple of bad shots down the stretch, Harrison Crowe sealed the deal with a solid par on the 17th, as the Aussie pairing went two for two on the day.
Following their example, Taiwan’s Chuan-Tai Lin and China’s Sampson-Yunhe Zheng scored the second point of the afternoon for Asia-Pacific on the 16th. The third one came in much more dramatic fashion, with John Gough and Alex Maguire winning holes 16 and 17 to square their match. But on the final par 5, a sensational eagle putt by Japan’s Yuta Sugiura put an end to the comeback story.
The final two matches brought the two wins of the session for the Europeans. Michael Mjaaseth and Herman Sekne remained unbeaten, as well as Sweden’s Hansson and Jonsson who had the final word over Joshua Bai and Nguyen Anh Minh, 2&1.
Day two will be disputed in the same format as day 1, with a total of 10 points available. Both teams will try to take the upper hand going into Saturday’s singles.