The third edition of the Royal Trophy has been scheduled for January 9-11, 2009 at the Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand; confirming that the prestigious Asia versus Europe showdown will retain the pre-season placement in the golf calendar.
The first two editions were staged in January 2006 and 2007 respectively with great success as the matches were played under glorious weather, attracted massive galleries, featured the highest standard of professional team golf and the players demonstrated a fantastic spirit of intense competition and rivalry while concurrently upholding the purest level of sportsmanship.
Over the two editions Ballesteros himself led the European team to victory as Captain and included in his teams some of the Continent’s best players including Ryder Cup stars Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Paul McGinley, Thomas Björn, David Howell and Robert Karlsson as well as legends of golf Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam.
The Asian Team was led by Japan Tour Lifetime Member Massy Kuramoto in the first edition and then by 35-tournament title winner Joe Ozaki in 2007. The Asian troops to battle the Europeans have included many of Asia’s top talents including Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa from India, Zhang Lian-wei from China, Japan’s number one player Toru Taniguchi, Korean Y E Yang and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee, Thaworn Wiratchant and Prom Meesawat.
The third edition of The Royal Trophy had previously been scheduled to take place earlier this month but was subsequently postponed in respect to Thailand’s mourning period over the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana which brought about great sorrow for all Thais.
“We have had two fantastic editions of The Royal Trophy. I am very much looking forward to captaining the European Team in January of 2009 in our defense of the Trophy,” said Ballesteros.
“I believe The Royal Trophy will play a similar role for Asian golf to that which The Ryder Cup played for our sport in Europe. The Royal Trophy will become one of the world’s great sporting competitions,” added the three-time Open Championship winner.
“I am delighted to captain the Asian Team for the third edition of the Royal Trophy in January of 2009. We will do our utmost to prevail over the Europeans and gain stewardship over the majestic Royal Trophy,” said Ozaki.
The Royal Trophy is the result of the legendary Seve Ballesteros’ vision of bringing the Asian continent together to compete against the masters of team golf – Europe, in a Ryder Cup format.
Prior to the first ever staging of the Championship five-time major winner Ballesteros requested the blessing from His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, the world’s longest reigning Monarch, for the holding of the historic matches in Thailand.
In a most gracious act, His Majesty the King not only extended a warm welcome to the Kingdom but also elected to donate a perpetual 16-kilogram solid-silver Trophy – stewardship of which would become the principal award for the competition.
