Asia win Royal Trophy in Brunei

Last updated: 16th December 2012

A sudden-death playoff saw Asia triumph over Jose Maria Olazabal's Europe to win the Royal Trophy in Brunei on Sunday.

South Korean KT Kim sank an eight-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole and then saw Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts miss from five feet after the teams had tied 8-8.

Had this been the Ryder Cup, Europe would have retained the trophy after the tie as a result of being the Cup holders, but in this competition four players instead head out again in a fourball - in this case Kim and YE Yang against Colsaerts and Francesco Molinari.

The victory looked unlikely when Asia lost the four opening foursomes by three points, but they were only one behind going into the final day singles.

Colsaerts and Henrik Stenson both won on the final green and Molinari's brother Edoardo came back from three down with five to play to halve with Wu Ashun.

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano birdied the last to share the spoils with Kim, but wins for Yoshinori Fujimoto over Marcel Siem, Jeev Milkha Singh over Miguel Angel Jimenez and then in the final game Yang over Molinari set up the shoot-out.

Olazabal, who was forced to pull out of his singles due to a neck injury, was magnanimous in defeat.

"I said all week it would go to the wire - and it did," said the Spaniard. "There is no disgrace in defeat. It was a great match. Congratulations to Joe Ozaki and to the Asian team. They played very well.

"You saw how close this match was by the fact six of the seven singles matches came down to the final hole.

"The margins between victory and defeat are tiny and I have told my players I am very proud of them and they should leave with their heads held high."

After a run of four defeats in five contests, Ozaki was over the moon with the victory.

"I am so proud of all my players, but especially K-T Kim. It was a great Royal Trophy and a great way to finish," he said.