At a best 2/7, Europe can hardly be described as value for the 2018 EurAsia Cup, which starts in Kuala Lumpur this Friday. Those odds may not reflect the increasing quality of Asian golf, according to Europe’s captain Thomas Bjorn, though he has a very strong team at his disposal at the Glenmarie Country Club.
The Dane has six former Ryder Cup players in his team as well as reigning Race to Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood. Tyrrell Hatton and Paul Dunne are expected to make their mark on the European Tour this year and will be hoping to put forward their own claims to play in this year’s Ryder Cup at Le Golf National. Paul Casey will also take part but Bjorn doesn’t want any of his team to think they just have to turn up to win, even though a Europe side captained by Darren Clarke had a 13-point margin of victory in the bi-annual competition two years ago.
It’s a bit of a surprise that the Europe team is so strong given the European Tour resumes this week with the South African Open. There is a decent prize fund at Glendower but the opportunity to boost Ryder Cup claims trumps any financial incentive at this stage of the season. Henrik Stenson, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Ross Fisher and Thomas Pieters are all part of the Europe squad, which features several matchplay experts. Fisher, in particular, thrives in one-to-one match-ups and the general 11/1 for him to be the Top European in the 2018 EurAsia Cup makes plenty of appeal given he’s the only player this week with an unbeaten record in the competition. Sweden’s Stenson, a two-times Race To Dubai champion, is 8/1 with Coral in the same market.
Team Asia are 15/4 with Marathonbet for a first EurAsia Cup win but Arjun Atwal’s team are facing an almost impossible task on paper. Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and India’s Anirban Lahiri (a general 13/2 to be Team Asia’s Top Scorer) are among the best known of the Asia team which also includes players from China, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. They’ll draw inspiration from the team which shared the trophy in 2014 but this Europe squad should really be much too powerful if they play to their potential and can record another wide-margin victory, even though Atwal has been taking advice from US Ryder Cup legends Tiger Woods and Davis Love III on how to beat a Europe side.
