The amazing climax that followed merely continued the Royal Trophy’s growing reputation for producing edge of the seat excitement. Asia triumphed in a play–off after an 8–8 tie last year, and Europe staged an even more amazing fightback to win the 2011 Royal Trophy after entering the Singles trailing 6–2.
But even Olazábal admitted he had not envisaged Europe’s remarkable change in fortunes coming this time, and that view must have been shared by everyone at Dragon Lake.
The European Captain commented: "I think the boys achieved something truly extraordinary today, and I can only thank them for giving me the last Trophy I was missing, after I won both the Ryder Cup and the Seve Trophy in the past.
"But I have to say I had no idea it would turn out this way until the final hour or hour and a half of play. I must admit I had my doubts, especially after we lost the first two points in the Singles and found ourselves trailing by four.
"The Asian Team is a very strong one, and all of my players will have even more respect for their abilities even though we won in the end.
"I know it will be tough for them to take this defeat, but they can be proud of the way they played, and we know they will make it even more difficult when we come back to defend this Trophy next year.
"But all I can say about my eight guys is that they are all great battlers, and they never know when they are beaten.
"For me the turning point was when David turned his match around so dramatically. You don’t expect to get anything out of a match like that when you are three down so close to the end, and to get a full point seemed to inspire everyone.
"I think you learn a lot about yourself in adversity, and what these guys learned is that they can still triumph over all the odds. I can only thank them again for making my job so easy."
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