Saturday 16 January 2016 11:39, UK
Europe secured a handy lead after beating Asia 4.5-1.5 in the opening set of EurAsia Cup fourballs in Kuala Lumpur.
Darren Clarke's men dominated for long spells at the Glenmarie Golf & Country Club on Friday, with only English pairing Danny Willett and Matthew Fitzpatrick being beaten in their first game.
Europe started strongly and claimed a 2-0 lead with two wide-margin victories, led off to perfection by Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter and his Austrian partner Bernd Wiesberger.
They led at the sixth but took control early in the back-nine, winning three successive holes from the 10th on their way to a 4&3 win over Anirban Lahiri and Jeunghun Wang.
Star pairing of the day honours went to Ross Fisher and Kristoffer Broberg, who blew Prayad Marksaeng and KT Kim away 6&4 after reaching the turn four up.
Asia hit back with a win for their top pairing Thongchai Jaidee and Byeong-Hun An, although they had to fight back from two down at the turn to beat Willett and Fitzpatrick 3&1.
Jaidee and An cut the deficit by taking the 11th hole and then reeled off four successive wins from the 14th to take Asia's first point on the 17th green.
Shane Lowry and Andy Sullivan restored Europe's two-point advantage with a 2&1 win over Wu Ashun and Shingo Katayama.
The longest game of the day saw Soren Kjeldsen and Victor Dubuisson, who appeared to be bothered by a knee problem, claim a half with Danny Chia and Nicholas Fung.
But Europe made sure of a three-point lead to take into Saturday's six foursomes matches when Lee Westwood and Chris Wood battled to a 2&1 win over Kiradech Aphibarnrat and SSP Chawrasia.
"A three-point lead after day one, it's a wonderful start for Europe," said Clarke. "There were a lot of matches there that it could have swung either way on the back nine.
Halfway around Europe were leading in all the matches. I was on the radio to a few of the other guys and said, 'This is match play, Asia are going to come back at some stage on the back nine, and that's exactly what they did.'
"We had a strong couple of matches and managed to finish with a very good result."
Poulter, a late arrival in Malaysia after celebrating his 40th birthday in Las Vegas, added: "It worked out nicely today. I think for the most part we put two balls in play. When you do that and you have good looks (at birdie), you don't both have to make it on the same hole and that's exactly what we did.
"Darren said, 'Listen, go out there first and get it done' and that's exactly what we did today. We dovetailed nicely, kept them under pressure and holed a few key putts, especially around the turn."
Saturday's foursomes (Europe first):
Danny Willett & Ian Poulter v Byeong Hun An & Thongchai Jaidee
Bernd Wiesberger & Ross Fisher v Jeunghun Wang & KT Kim
Chris Wood & Kristoffer Broberg v Kiradech Aphibarnrat & SSP Chawrasia
Andy Sullivan & Shane Lowry v Prayad Marksaeng & Shingo Katayama
Soren Kjeldsen & Victor Dubuisson v Danny Chia & Nicholas Fung
Lee Westwood & Matthew Fitzpatrick v Anirban Lahiri & Ashun Wu
