Eurasia Cup is Not Acceptable to China and Japan

Hong Kong (Hong Kong SAR) – March 27, 2014 – In response to requests for clarification regarding the Eurasia Cup, the Royal Trophy has made the following statements through its Co-Managing Director Ivan Ballesteros.

“We would like to make clear that, as explained in the past, we will not allow the European Tour or the Asian Tour to manipulate what Seve thought for their benefit, like saying that he would have ‘cherished’ the Eurasia Cup. They should never have misrepresented him like this. What Seve thought is clear from his letter to Mr. Kyi Hla Han of the Asian Tour and from all the history of the Royal Trophy,” said Ivan Ballesteros, Co-Managing Director of the Royal Trophy.

“The European Tour and the Asian Tour have damaged golf and the Royal Trophy, have misled the public and we will not allow this without speaking out the truth. These two tours acted clearly contrary to the Japan Golf Tour and China Golf Association and on top of this, they have been making threatening remarks and tried to keep us quiet. But we do not take threats.

“For us, the launch of the Eurasia Cup is an act of aggression by the Asian and European Tours against the Royal Trophy and all of its partners. It is an extremely negative development for Asian and world golf and one that severely damages the integrity of the game. We believe that their actions are not in line with good standards of morality.

“The European and Asian Tours accepted sanction fees from the Royal Trophy in the past. They agreed in writing that we created and developed the concept of a team match-play competition between Europe and Asia and that we own all media rights to the format. Then, after the Royal Trophy achieved significant recognition following seven editions and lots of hard work, they created an event which many are referring to as an imitation or a copy-cat of the Royal Trophy. Many others have stated that these two tours are usurping the Royal Trophy and still others are saying that the Eurasia Cup is effectively the Royal Trophy re-branded. We told the European Tour last August that this would create great confusion, and indeed we are seeing now. In our opinion, today is a very sad day for golf.”

China has refused to participate in the Eurasia Cup which is evident in an Asian team that features no players from the continent’s most populous nation and a country of enormous promise for the future of world golf.

“The Royal Trophy is highly appreciative of China’s loyalty and clear stance that the launch of this confrontational event in Malaysia is not welcomed. An Asian team without China is not Asia,” added Ivan Ballesteros.

“We are also aware that the China Golf Association and the Japan Golf Tour have made it very clear to the European Tour that the creation of the Eurasia Cup is not acceptable to them.

“Mr. George O’Grady of the European Tour has tried to deny statements we have made previously. His taking back of his own words is remarkably sad. We stand by everything we have said before as it is all true and the European Tour’s stance in this regard is indefensible. They are acting directly against the request of Seve Ballesteros, a golfer who the European Tour itself always describes as having made an important contribution to the development of the Tour. The European and Asian Tours have tarnished the image of golf by treating the heritage of the Royal Trophy and its partners with no regard, no sensitivity and a complete lack of understanding of protocol.

“We understand that the European Tour is in a very difficult position now because they know that the launch of the Eurasia Cup was a mistake. The European Tour has actually confirmed this in writing and verbally. If the European Tour is agreeable to it, we would be glad to release the respective documents to the media. In fact, Mr. O’Grady explained to me in very certain words that he believes that having two events between Europe and Asia is a silly situation to be in and that this needs to be resolved. He told me that from his understanding the people in Malaysia do not want to be involved in a conflict either. He said that a solution needs to be found where everybody does not ‘lose too much face’.

“Further, the venue where they are playing the Eurasia Cup today is a club which was in direct contact with Seve and the Royal Trophy for the 2012 edition of the Event. In our opinion, the European and Asian Tours took advantage of our work.

“We would have preferred not to have to make any more statements about this event which so many are calling a copy of the Royal Trophy. But we felt obligated to do so because of questions we are receiving and comments arising lately from the players as these two tours have failed to resolve the issue.”

Over the past weeks Thomas Bjorn has made reference to the effect that the European players have been put in an impossible position and Graeme McDowell has said that he believes that there is room for only one event where Europe plays Asia. José María Olazábal has said that the Eurasia Cup is unnecessary.

“It seems to us that the management of the European Tour and the Asian Tour are now leaving the players to deal with this mess. The European and the Asian Tours should be the ones answering these questions from the media, not the players who were drawn into this uncomfortable and unfair situation by them,” concluded Ivan Ballesteros.

The eighth edition of the Royal Trophy will be held on 19-21 December 2014 at Dragon Lake Golf Club in Guangzhou, China. The Royal Trophy is sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour, the China Golf Association and is also supported by the OneAsia Tour.

The concept of the Royal Trophy originated from a historic meeting held in 2001 and attended by the late legendary five-time Major winner Seve Ballesteros, Ivan Ballesteros and entrepreneur Lincoln Venancio. Seve Ballesteros captained the European Team in the inaugural two editions of the Royal Trophy but had his five-year planned captaincy cut short as a result of a brain tumor that would eventually take his life. In 2006 the gifted golfer predicted that the Royal Trophy would grow into one of the world’s greatest sporting competitions.

About The Royal Trophy
The Royal Trophy – Europe vs Asia Golf Championship is the official and traditional competition played between the two continents. The seventh edition of the Championship was held on 20-22 December 2013 at Dragon Lake Golf Club in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province in the People’s Republic of China. The eighth edition of the Matches will be held on 19-21 December 2014 and will remain at the 54-hole Dragon Lake Golf Club. The Royal Trophy features Asia and Europe competing in a series of 16 foursomes, fourball and singles matches. The Royal Trophy Players’ Committee is comprised of Sir Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam OBE, José María Olazábal, Paul McGinley, Isao Aoki, Naomichi ‘Joe’ Ozaki and Jeev Milkha Singh.

For further information, please contact:

Doris Chang
Entertainment Group (Asia) Limited
Email: doris@eg-rt.com

Betty Cheung
Entertainment Group (Asia) Limited
Email: betty@eg-rt.com

Tel: (852) 2834 0060
Fax: (852) 2838 8593
Website: www.TheRoyalTrophy.com