Team Europe with the Royal Trophy in Bangkok on Sunday. (Reuters)

Bangkok: Arjun Atwal led the fightback for Asia who, however, fell just short as Europe won the inaugural Royal Trophy 9-7 at the Amata Spring Country Club here on Sunday.

Asia, who were 2-6 down after the first day’s foursomes and fourballs, won the singles 5-3, but at one staged were ahead in as many as six matches and level in one more.

Atwal, playing blistering golf, including two birdies and an eagle on the first six holes, beat the six-time major champion Nick Faldo as Asia went on to win five of the eight singles.

Atwal, who lost the first hole, kept his nose ahead from the third onwards and never took his foot off the pedal. He closed the match on 16th as he was three-up.

After his great start, Atwal also had three birdies from 10th to 12th and that decided the match, as Faldo never recovered from there.

Jyoti Randhawa, who staged a great fightback coming back from three down to all square, then collapsed and lost three holes between 13th and 16th to go down three and two.

From an Indian viewpoint, Atwal won two points from three matches, while Randhawa won one point from three.

“It was a great experience and I think we staged a great comeback.

But the wind on the first day played a big part and gave the Europeans a huge advantage,” said Atwal, who flies from Bangkok to play in the Sony Open next week in Hawaii.

When Asia opened the day trailing 2-6, it looked impossible to give the strong European team a fight.

Europe needed only two-and-a-half points from the eight singles to clinch the trophy but in the end, they needed Dane Henrik Stenson’s 5&4 win in the final rubber over Thai Thongchai Jaidee to edge home.

Europe’s other singles winners were Graeme McDowell and Paul McGinley, the man who clinched the 2002 Ryder Cup at the Belfry.

Stenson secured the winning point, beating Thailand’s home hero Jaidee 5 and 4 in the anchor match, after the Irish duo of McGinley and McDowell put the first two points on the board for Europe.

For European captain Seve Ballesteros, the win sealed a unique hattrick as he has now led Europe to success in the Ryder Cup, the Seve Trophy and now the Royal Trophy, which was played under a great atmosphere owing to the presence of large galleries that numbered in the thousands.

At one point, Team Asia were up in six matches, level in one and down in only one match.

Europe rallied, with McGinley leading the way by coming back from two down against Zhang Lian-Wei to win 2 and 1 after the Chinese ace found the watery grave with an errant tee shot on 17.

McDowell followed suit in bettering Randhawa 3 and 2 to ensure both Irishmen came away from the contest with three wins out of three.

With David Howell losing a closely fought tussle in the top match to Japan’s Yasuharu Imano on the final hole and Asia dominating the middle order, Stenson’s match became vital.