Hannah Green continued her stellar form to help put Asia-Pacific in a strong position in a fog-delayed Patsy Hankins Trophy in Portugal.
But things weren’t quite as rosy for the Australian men in the corresponding Bonallack Trophy, with national squad members Zach Murray and Brett Coletta twice losing 1-down in a frustrating opening to the series against Europe.
Green, fresh from some inspiring performances around the ALPG Tour’s key events, teamed with Hong Kong’s Tiffany Chan to win the morning foursomes 4&2 over Germany’s Laura Funfstuck and Spain’s Luna Sobron Galmes after a lengthy fog delay.
The West Australian then paired with Taiwanese ace Han-Hsuan Yu to hold a 1-up lead in the afternoon fourball matches when bad light stopped play through 12 holes in the final women’s match against Italian Lucrezia Colombotto Rosso and Austrian Emma Spitz.
The Asia-Pacific team already has five points in the bank against Europe’s two, with three matches still on course, all with just one hole separating the teams.
But the Asia-Pacific men’s team isn’t faring as well, trailing 7-2 with one match – currently all square – still on course.
Coletta and Murray were far from overawed on the Vidago Palace Golf Course, north-east of Porto.
But the Victorian combination couldn’t quite get over the line in either their morning foursomes – in which they fell to Scottish pair Grant Forrest and Jack McDonald – or their afternoon fourball, which they lost to Swede Robin Petersson and Dutchman Jeroen Krietemeijer.
The day one matches will be completed tonight (Australian time) before another day of foursomes and fourball matches.
The final day on Friday will feature 12 singles matches.