Team Europe unveiled for EurAsia Cup

KUALA LUMPUR: A full house of 12 European Tour winners, incorporating the 2016 Open Champion and six Ryder Cup players, make up the European Team named yesterday for next year’s EurAsia Cup in Malaysia.

Led by Thomas Bjorn — eight months before he also captains Europe in The Ryder Cup in France — the European Team will tackle Asia in the third staging of the biennial contest, which will once again take place at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur from Jan 12-14.

Europe will be looking to retain the trophy they won in convincing fashion by 18½-5½ in 2016, but will face a strong Asian team on home soil captained, for the first time, by India’s Arjun Atwal.

Leading the 10 automatic qualifiers from the 2017 Race to Dubai Rankings is Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who finished European No.1 after a thrilling end to the season last weekend at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

Joining Fleetwood as automatic qualifiers are his fellow Englishmen Tyrrell Hatton, Ross Fisher and Matthew Fitzpatrick, Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, Ireland’s Paul Dunne, Belgium’s Thomas Pieters, and the Swedish duo of Alex Noren and Henrik Stenson.

Completing the European Team are the two wild-card selections named by Bjorn, Englishman Paul Casey and Alex Levy of France. Casey will bring vital experience of the match play realm through his Ryder Cup appearances which included being part of Europe’s back-to-back nine-point triumphs in 2004 and 2006, while Levy will bring his own particular brand of French flair.

Atwal will name his Asian team next Tuesday.