The Royal Trophy is very important for the spirit and camaraderie of golf in Europe and Asia.

We've seen the sport grow significantly in Asia in recent times and it's great for us to have an annual match against their players. Golf is looking to that part of the world as a growth area and there are a lot of co-sanctioned events now. A lot of Asian players win those events and gain European Tour cards so we're increasingly seeing their talent on our shores as well.

Olazabal: European skipper

The Royal Trophy helps to improve the relationship between the European and Asian Tour and this is a nice time of year to hold it, coming as it does just before the 'Desert Swing' events in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai.

It's a fun week, it doesn't quite have the seriousness and the competitiveness of the Ryder Cup, but the players enjoy undertaking a different challenge. I spoke to Nick Dougherty recently and he's looking forward to it and I expect to see the competition played in a very friendly spirit.

Team

You don't often play team matches in golf. Beyond the Ryder Cup, the Seve Trophy and the Royal Trophy European players don't get any opportunities to play team matches. It will be nice for the guys to go out and play with each other and for each other, rather than playing as individuals as they do for 99 per cent of the year.

People ask me if I'd like to see more team events, but I personally think there's enough. The Seve Trophy already gives young players some experience of Ryder Cup style pressure and I'd like to see that event go from strength to strength.

The Seve Trophy perhaps has more pressure attached to it than the Royal Trophy, but that doesn't mean they'll be strolling around the Amata Spring Country Club this weekend.

Wherever a professional golfer goes he wants to win. You don't become a great golfer by taking things lightly and every player going to Thailand this week will be desperate to win his matches and lift that big 16kg solid silver Royal Trophy at the end of it.

Poignant

It will be a particularly poignant event this year because Europe's captain in the previous two tournaments, Seve Ballesteros is still recovering from his brain tumour.

He has sent Jose Maria Olazabal down to Bangkok to do the job as captain and it will be great for him to have that experience. Any kind of experience as a captain will stand him in good stead as I expect him to become a Ryder Cup captain in the next few years.

He already has huge Ryder Cup experience and his experience as vice captain at Valhalla will have been of great benefit. Having spoken to some of the players in the European side, Olazabal carried an awful lot of the team spirit and quite often picked up the pieces when things went wrong.

In many ways he was pseudo-skipper at Valhalla and the Royal Trophy will give him another notch on his captain's scabbard. It's another piece of the jigsaw as he moves towards his destiny of becoming a Ryder Cup captain.

Will he fulfil that destiny at the next Ryder Cup? It's impossible to say at the moment because he has expressed his interest in trying to qualify as a player, but I'm sure he'll take the job at some point.

Talent

Europe has a good team going out to Thailand. Two of the eight players - Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson - were in the last Ryder Cup team and there is a wealth of talent in the likes of Paul McGinley and Johan Edfors.

For somebody like Pablo Larrazabal, this will provide good experience of team golf. He's an immensely gifted player, so you'd be looking at him to perhaps be a Ryder Cup player in the future.

I like watching the way he goes about his game and he reminds me so much of a young Seve because of the spirit and the freedom in which he plays the game. His swashbuckling style and his bright smile recalls the great Ballesteros and I'm a huge fan of that young man.

So it will be great to see him, but for all of the players this is a nice warm-up all and it will be fascinating to see how some of these players have wintered as we continue the Race to Dubai.

Thrill

From the Asian perspective I can't wait to see the 17-year-old sensation Ryo Ishikawa who has already thrilled galleries with his skills at a tender age. Along with Larrazabal, he's undoubtedly the man to watch.

This should be a competitive match. Although Europe have won the last two, it certainly won't be a walkover when Asia can boast the likes of Tongchai Jaidee, 2007 Asian Order of Merit winner Liang Wen-Chong and two-time Japanese Order of Merit winner Toru Taniguchi among their ranks.

Asia have a strong team, they are all winners, they are all very competent players and they will have home support behind them.

It will be very interesting to see how it unravels over the weekend. The Amata Spring Country Club will provide an exciting golf course, albeit a long one at 7,381 yards so it will obviously favour the best ball strikers.

If Europe play to their best I think they will win. There's an awful lot of experience in the team - five of them have played in the Ryder Cup - and Johan Edfors has a 100 per cent record in the Royal Trophy which he will want to defend.

So the smart money would be on Europe reaching a hat-trick of Royal Trophy wins - but it will undoubtedly be a competitive and entertaining three days of golf.

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