ROYAL TROPHY:EUROPE CAPTAIN Colin Montgomerie was relieved not to be facing a greater deficit after Asia claimed a 2½-1½ lead in the opening round foursomes at the Royal Trophy in Bangkok yesterday.

The hosts are aiming to stage a successful title defence after winning 10-6 last year and started well, and looked at one stage like finishing the day with a 3-1 lead.

But a half point from Soren Kjeldsen and Peter Hanson kept the deficit down heading into today’s fourballs.

“I think if you ask my players how they played most of them would not have been happy with their performance, so in that sense we escaped a bit,” said Montgomerie.

“We are certainly not complaining about the position we are in, because we know we can play a lot better – and we will have to if we are to get back into the match.”

Japanese duo Ryo Ishikawa and Koumei Oda highlighted Asia’s performance as they rallied to beat Montgomerie and Pablo Martin of Spain 3 and 2 in the first match.

The European pair were two up through three holes but contrived to three-putt the third from seven feet, before Ishikawa sank a birdie on the next hole to level.

Ishikawa and Oda then picked up birdies on the seventh and eighth to move into a two-hole lead from which Montgomerie and Martin never recovered.

Europe’s only win of the day came when Robert Karlsson and Alexander Noren beat Charlie Wi and Liang Wen-chong 4 and 2.

The match between Kjeldsen and Hanson and Indian duo Jeev Milkha Singh and Gaganjeet Bhullar ended all square, while Thai duo Prayad Marksaeng and Thongchai Jaidee wrapped up a 3 and 1 win over England’s Simon Dyson and Swede Henrik Stenson.

Montgomerie opted to tinker slightly with his team for today with the 46-year-old partnering England’s Simon Dyson in the opening match against Singh and Bhullar, while Martin and Stenson will anchor Europe’s bid, facing Marksaeng and Jaidee in the final match.