United Arab Emirates
- Asia-Pacific wins both Bonallack & Patsy Hankins Trophies
- Men's match decided by one point
- Women's singles session dominated by Asia-Pacific
The Asia-Pacific teams have won both the Bonallack and Patsy Hankins Trophy matches against strong European sides in the UAE.
Entering the final day singles at Al Hamra Golf Club, the men's match was tied 10-all, while the European women had a three-point deficit to overcome.
First to tee off on Friday morning, Myrte Eikenaar's team needed a quick start to close the gap to Asia-Pacific, although momentum quickly went the opposite way.
The home team went up early in nearly all of the top singles matches, and never looked in trouble as they won the first seven available points to reclaim the trophy back from the Europeans.
The first European point of the session came from Marie Eline Madsen (DEN), whose 1-up win was helped by an ace on the par-3 11th. Francesca Fiorellini (ITA) (4&2) and Carolina Lopez-Chacarra (ESP) (4&2) were the only others to score wins for the visitors on Friday, with Beth Coulter (IRL) securing a half-point with a tied match.
After Asia-Pacific's domination of the final session, the score ended 20-12 in favour of Asia-Pacific.
The men's match looked set for yet another tight finish with nothing to separate the teams heading into the final day.
The first men's singles match of the day was a matchup between the reigning US Amateur and NCAA Individual champions, Jose Luis Ballester (ESP) and Hiroshi Tai (SGP), which looked like it might set the tone for the rest of the following matches.
Ballester continued his fine matchplay form and comfortably secured a 5th win of the week, a 100% record, and the first point of the day for Europe with a 5&4 win.
In the following match, Ballester's partner for the pairs matches, Pablo Ereño Perez (ESP), nearly secured a perfect record of his own, but had to settle for a half-point in his final match.
The Asia-Pacific side quickly responded with a win of their own from Zhou Ziqin (CHN), who got the best of Algot Kleen (SWE) today with a 6&4 victory.
Benjamin Reuter (NED) and Gunnlaugur Árni Sveinsson (ISL) delivered two more points for team Europe with 3&2 wins, while Filip Jacubcik (CZE) fought back from 2-down with late birdies for another half-point.
The bottom half of the draw swung in favour of the APGC however, with three wins by the 15th green or earlier.
Dominic Clemons (ENG) took the score to 15-15, with a 5&4 win in match 11 meaning the fate of the Bonallack Trophy would be decided by the matches between Richard Teder (EST) v. Anh Minh Nguyen (VIE) and Charlie Forster (ENG) v. Phichaksn Maichon (THA).
Teder was all-square with four to play, while Forster needed to turn-around his match from 1-down for Europe to win.
It wasn't to be for Joachim Fourquet's side, as the Asia-Pacific players claimed 1.5 of the last two points, thereby securing a third-straight win in the contest by two-points or less.
