Local Malaysian hero Danny Chia has waved a proverbial ‘red flag’ in the face of EurAsia Cup rival Ian Poulter suggesting: “Ian who?” when informed he will be facing Poulter in the opening match of the deciding Sunday Singles at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur.
The Asian Team need to win nine and half one points from the 12 points up for grabs on the last day to claim an improbably victory in the Malaysian capital.
Their cause was not helped when the Darren Clarke captained Europeans stormed from a three point overnight lead to win four of the Saturday Fourball encounters, halved another and lose just one to their Asian rivals.
It handed the European Team a 9 – 3 leading advantage in the second staging of the biennial event.
Chia will face Poulter in the opening match on Sunday.
The 42-year old Malaysian lives in Kuala Lumpur and has won twice on the Asian Tour while securing one other victory last year to cement his place in the Asian Team.
Danny Chia stirs the EurAsia Cup pot suggesting ‘Ian who?” after being thrown into to face Poulter in the first match on the last day. (Photo – Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
However he will come up against Poulter, a winner of 12 European Tour victories and more notably, a passionate veteran of five Ryder Cup’s including inspiring Europe to victory in the 2012 ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in suburban Chicago.
However when Chia was brought into the Media Centre he was asked what he thought about going up against his 40-year old English-born opponent.
“Ian who? Ian who? ” said Chia smiling.
“It’s match play so it doesn’t matter. I don’t care who it is. If he hits a bad shot, it’s still a bad shot.
“So it doesn’t matter if it’s Ian Poulter.
Ian who? A 12-time winner on the European Tour and a veteran of five Ryder Cup’s (Photo – Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
“As I say, you know, I just have to hit it decent, we have a fighting chance. So it doesn’t matter who I play.”
Asia Team captain Jeev Milka Singh knows his inexperienced team have an uphill task to deny the visiting Europeans.
Two years ago, Asia went into the deciding Singles trailing 7 – 3 but then came out to win seven of the then 10 matches to tie the inaugural event 10 points all.
And that is the message Singh has instilled into his team ahead of the closing day.
“You know, when your back is against the wall, the only way is up, or you’ve just got to push yourself,” said Singh.
“There’s no other option for our team.
“We are going to give it our best, and I believe in my team. They want to go out there and they want to give it their best shot possible.”
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