Europe lead but Faldo and Woosnam fail to shine

The European captain, Seve Ballesteros, attributed his team's 6-2 lead to Asia's "lack of experience" on the first day of the Royal Trophy here at the Amata Spring Country Club.

Europe arrived as favourites and justified their billing, even if the consistency in performance was lacking.

The Spaniard said: "It was a wonderful day for us but it was also a great performance from the Asian team. We had a little bit more luck on the greens and probably the lack of experience on the Asians' part was the difference between the teams."

Experience was what Ballesteros had opted for in the anchor match of the morning's foursomes when he paired up his two veteran wild-card selections, Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam. But the pair found themselves on the end of the biggest defeat of the day, a 6 & 5 humbling by two of Asia's biggest stars, Thaworn Wiratchant and Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand.

Ballesteros defended his decision to reunite the pair, who had not played together since the Ryder Cup 15 years ago. He said: "They played well but the Thais played fantastically."

The two were split up for the afternoon's fourballs, a decision vindicated after both won points alongside big hitters, Faldo with Henrik Stenson and Woosnam alongside Thomas Bjorn.