Clarke welcomes ‘strong’ EurAsia Cup line-up

KUALA LUMPUR: European captain Darren Clarke welcomed an “extremely strong” EurAsia Cup line-up on Tuesday as Race to Dubai runner-up Danny Willett and French star Victor Dubuisson were confirmed among 10 automatic qualifiers.
World number 20 Willett, 28, is among five Englishmen to qualify for the January 15-17 tournament as the leading 10 available players on the European Tour’s final Race to Dubai standings.
Dubuisson and fellow Ryder Cup player Ross Fisher also made the cut, along with Chris Wood, Michael Fitzpatrick and Andy Sullivan, who was runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry, Bernd Wiesberger of Austria, Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen and Swede Kristoffer Broberg round out the 10 who will face Jeev Milkha Singh’s Asian team in Kuala Lumpur.
They will be joined by two captain’s picks in two weeks’ time from Clarke, who will also mastermind Europe’s team for next year’s Ryder Cup.
“I am delighted with the make-up of the team. It may be a relatively young one, but it is extremely strong and packed with experience,” said Clarke, in comments released by the Asian Tour.
“The EurAsia Cup also offers many of our players the opportunity to enhance their prospects of making next September’s Ryder Cup team. It’s also a good chance for me to see how comfortable they are with and in a team environment,” he added.