Karan Taunk is a big assest for Asia-Pacific: Hyung-Mo Kang

BANGALORE: Hyung-Mo Kang, who will spearhead the Asia-Pacific team charge, is impressed with Indian amateur golfer Karan Taunk and said his knowledge of the course will be a big asset for the side during the ninth edition of Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy which begins Wednesday. Kang, who was the team captain of Korea for Asia-Pacific Team Championship last year, said, "Since our team has the local player - Karan Taunk who is quite familiar with this course, will be a big asset for us."I am impressed with the way Karan has been giving advice to the team members about each hole of KGA in the past two days. I am quite confident about my team giving a tough competition to Europeans this year."Kang looked confident about the chances of his team putting up a great show at KGA."The advantage that we have here is that all of our players are quite used to be playing in this kind of weather. Also, most of them have won either the prestigious Nomura Cup or Asia-Pacific Golf Team Championship," he said. "Players like Geoff Drakeford and Taylor MacDonald of Australia, Chinese duo Zecheng Dou and Jin Cheng, Chieh-Po Lee of Chinese Taipei, Shinichi Mizuno of Hong Kong, Korean boys Nam-Hun Kim and Soo-Min Lee, Japanese Daichi Sato and Kenta Konishi and Joshua Munn of New Zealand, are all playing very well in their regions." Kang acknowledged that the Team Europe has a great line up of players including Renato Paratore of Italy who has already won Junior Orange Bowl International a few weeks ago and Winner of Commercial Banl Qatar Masters, Dominic Foos of Germany. "Team Europe has more experience of playing foursomes matches than our Team Asia-Pacific. There should be more amateur tournaments between both the continents to give players extra exposure," added Kang.Brad A. Schadewitz, Vice-Captain of Asia-Pacific Team and a National Coach of Hong Kong Golf Association pointed out the wind factor at KGA."Players will have to strategise their morning plans and their evening plans differently as the wind starts blowing faster in the afternoon. I don't think that we have big stars in our team but our talented young boys definitely have what it takes to win a match."Andrew B Morgan, Captain of the team Europe, said that our team has got a good spell of practice and the team would do its best to create a good impression in India when they tee-off at Karnataka Golf Association tomorrow.Morgan, who is currently a board member of the Sports Council for Wales and Chairman of Golf Development Wales, said, "For us, its very early in the season but as some of these guys have been playing in Australia and have had the experience of playing under the heat, they all are looking in a great form. Players are between the age of 16-27 which is a good age range for this kind of tournament."Asking about his favourite player in the 12-member team, Morgan said: "I think all the 12 team members are my favourite. The 16-year-old Dominic Foos of Germany is the youngest in the team and has a good temperament. "The most experienced player Ryan Evans of England (Age-26) has also been in excellent form. Some of the other noticeable players are Ashley Chesters of England, Max Roehrig of Germany, two Irish boys - Gavin Moynihan and Dermot Mcelroy, James Ross from England who studied in an American University in Houston and Renato Paratore of Italy." Talking about the course conditions, Morgan said, "The course superintendent has done a great job to make it look excellent. Since the greens are getting faster, the key would be to take sensible decisions on the fairways with the water bodies. The players are now aware of the holes they need to be careful on and they will take a very systematic approach on every hole."