Shah Alam [SELANGOR]: After winning the Asian Tour Order of Merit, Malaysian star Gavin Green will turn his attention to the EurAsia Cup presented by DRB-HICOM where he will represent Team Asia.

The 23-year-old enjoyed a superb 2017 season where he won his first Asian Tour title, was crowned Asia’s number one and subsequently voted as the Players’ Player of the Year.

Following a breakthrough year, the talented Malaysian will be part of a strong Team Asia led by captain Arjun Atwal of India who will go up against Thomas Bjorn’s Team Europe at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club from January 12 to 14.

Green will be among six debutants in the 12-man Team Asia but he believes his team has the talent to cause an upset against Team Europe, who won the last edition of the EurAsia Cup. It was a 10-10 draw in the first showpiece in 2014.

“This will be something very new for me but it will be a great honour to represent Asia. It is a very young team but there are also a lot of young guys with a lot of experience playing in the big Tours and in Majors. It will be a good event for us to learn and maybe kick some butt,” Green smiled.

He will put his faith on captain Atwal to lead the team to victory. “Arjun is a great captain because he has played and won on the PGA Tour. He has put together a very strong team. You have to play solid all year to qualify for the EurAsia Cup so it is a great opportunity for all of us.

“I think we will learn a lot from this against a very strong Team Europe. It is good to see where we stand and it will be even better if we can go up against them. It is a mind game. If we get our minds right, it will be a good fight,” said Green.

The EurAsia Cup will be played at the Glenmarie Gardens course, a venue where Green finished second in 2015 and won on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) last year.

“I’m comfortable on that course because you can blast driver. Getting off to good starts is important. It is very funny in team match play. When you are up, it gives good vibes to the team and it somehow spills over. So we really need to get off to a good start and see where it leads us,” said the Malaysian.

Green will be joined by compatriot Nicholas Fung, Japan’s Yuta Ikeda, Hideto Tanihara, China’s Li Haotong, India’s Anirban Lahiri, S.S.P. Chawrasia, Poom Saksansin of Thailand, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Phachara Khongwatmai, Korea’s Byeonghun An and Sunghoon Kang.

Team Europe will feature Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Paul Casey, Paul Dunne, Ross Fisher, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Alex Levy, Alex Noren, Thomas Pieters, Henrik Stenson and Bernd Wiesberger.

The EurAsia Cup will feature 24 matches, with day one showcasing six fourball matches, followed by six foursomes matches and 12 singles matches on the third day.