European captain Dame Laura Davies suffers heavy defeat at The Queens
Friday 11 December 2015 09:19, UK
The Ladies European Tour got off to an uncertain start on the first day of The Queens, an inaugural four-team competition in Japan.
LET captain Dame Laura Davies and Solheim Cup star Mel Reid crashed to a 6&4 defeat to home pair Ayaka Watanabe and Erika Kikuchi in the first fourballs match out at the Miyoshi Country Club.
The LPGA of Japan team won all four of their matches to take a commanding lead after day one of the three-day event, while the LET's lone winners were Hannah Burke and Emily Kristine Pedersen.
Solheim Cup team-mates Catriona Matthew and Karine Icher scraped a half against the Korean LPGA pairing of Sung Hyun Park and Bo-Mee Lee, but the Europeans have an eight-point deficit to make up over the weekend.
"We were always up against it but are really disappointed not taking them to the last few holes. We just didn't make enough birdies," Davies said of her defeat.
Reid admitted she struggled for rhythm after a long break, while the bitterly cold conditions in Nagoya were also difficult to overcome.
She added: "Having five weeks off obviously doesn't work very well for me, but it was just really cold. We had a rushed warm up as well and it was hard to get into a rhythm. They played great."
With three points awarded for a win and one for a halved match, the home team lead the way on 12 points with the Korean LPGA second on seven points.
Japanese captain Momoko Ueda said: "I'm extremely delighted with the way Japan has started the tournament. Our target was, and still is, to win every match. However, we can't take today's results for granted as we know it could be a very different story tomorrow.
"Looking at the scoreboard during the round, and seeing how well the other players were doing, gave me extra confidence and I'm sure it was the same for my teammates."
The Australian Ladies Professional Golf team lost all four of their opening-day matches, and captain Rachel Hetherington said: "We can only get better. A few of us haven't played competition golf for a little while so were a little out of sorts. We will definitely improve in every match from now on."
