Michael Bonallack Trophy 2008
Valderrama, Spain
25-27 April 2008
Victory for Europe over Asia/Pacific 20-12!
Europe has defeated Asia/Pacific in the biennial Michael Bonallack Trophy at Golf Club Valderrama, Spain.
The results in the morning of the first day indicated closely matched teams with a tied result in the fourball. In the afternoon, Europe edged ahead in the foursomes, but the matches were all close. Europe had a two point advantage.
Day 2 was more decisive for Europe, who gained 11 points to Asia/Pacific's 4. Only the two Korean players, Bi-O Kim and Yeong-Su Kim, were giving the European consistently unbreakable competition.
The Europeans' confidence, bolstered by the overnight 9 point lead, was, however, quickly dissolved. Hoping for a decisive victory early in the day, Europe led with the two Scottish players, Wallace Booth and Callum Macaulay and the two Swedes, Joel Sjoholm and Björn Akesson. Asia/Pacific had other ideas and, through most of the third day's singles, had control of at least nine of the matches.
European captain, Gonzaga Escauriaza of Spain, had coached his players well on his home turf and had given them an in-depth strategy to play the demanding Valderrama course. No more useful could his advice have been than on the 18th hole - a tough par 4 dogleg left with a tee-shot landing area requiring pin-point precision. Following Booth's 4/2 win, Akesson stole his match from Naoyuki Tamura (Japan) on the final hole after being down most of the day. Sjoholm did the same after trailing Anthony Fernando (Philippines) for the final few holes to seal the European team's victory. In fact, of the 32 matches, 15 were to finish on the 18th hole - an indication that the final 20-12 result was much closer than it may seem.
In 2010 the match will be held at Karnataka Golf Association, Bengaluru, India.
The EGA thanks the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation for the spirited competition in the sixth edition of this prestigious match, the Royal Spanish Golf Federation for hosting, the Valderrama Golf Club president, Mr Filipe Ortiz-Patiño, and its members for the exclusive use of the golf course and club faciities and the R&A for its continued support of the match.
Richard Heath
EGA Championship Manager
resultsmbt2008_000.pdf
The Michael Bonnallack Trophy
The Winning team of Europe
Captain: Gonzaga Escauriaza (Spain)
| Bjorn Akesson (Sweden) | Shane Lowry (Ireland) |
| Wallace Booth (Scotland) | Callum Macaulay (Scotland) |
| Sean Einhaus (Germany) | Pedro Oriol (Spain) |
| Nigel Edwards (Wales) | Joel Sjoholm (Sweden) |
| Benjamin Hebert (France) | Chris Wood (England) |
| Alexandre Kaleka (France) | Daniel Willett (England) |
The Asia/PacificTeam
Captain: Roger Brennand (New Zealand)
| Rohan Blizzard (Australia) | Bi-O Kim (Korea) |
| Ming-Chuan Chen (Chinese-Taipei) | Yeong-Su Kim (Korea) |
| Varut Chomchalam (Thailand) | Danny Lee (New Zealand) |
| Anthony Fernando (Philippines) | Danny Lee (New Zealand) |
| James Gill (New Zealand) | Tim Stewart (Australia) |
| Yuki Ito (Japan) | Naoyuki Tamura (Japan) |