THONGCHAI HEADS A WINNING ASIAN COMBINATION FOR FIRST DYNASTY CUP

Thai star Thongchai Jaidee will head a line-up of proven winners on the Asian PGA Tour for the inaugural Phoenix Dynasty Cup in two weeks. The new Ryder Cup-style event at the Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen from March 14-16 will pit Asia's top players against the best from Japan.

Thongchai, the winner of the 2001 Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit title, earned an automatic place by finishing top of the Dynasty Cup rankings at the end of the 2002 season, while last year's merit list winner, Indian Jyoti Randhawa, made the eighth place.

South Korea's Charlie Wi rated second place, followed by India's Arjun Atwal, Thammanoon Srirot and Thaworn Wiratchant from Thailand, South Korean Kang Wook-soon and China's number one Zhang Lianwei. The captain's picks are India's Jeev Milkha Singh, Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng, Lin Keng-chi of Taiwan and rising Chinese star Liang Wen-chong.

Japan have an equally outstanding line-up and have included Nobuhito Sato, Tommy Nakajima, Tomohiro Kondo, Taichi Techima, Yasuhiro Imano and Kiyoshi Murota in their team. The popularity of the game in Japan reached feverish levels last December when they lifted the EMC World Cup in Mexico.

To mark the first staging of the Dynasty Cup, both teams have picked highly respected non-playing captains in the form of Japan's Isao Aoki and Hsieh Min-nan of Taiwan.

Phoenix Satellite Television was yesterday announced as the title sponsor and its chief Lui Changle said he was certain the event would be a hit 'because the format is unique to golf in our region'. 'We are dedicated to providing high-quality golf coverage for audiences all over the world and we hope to support the development of golf in Asia.'