Paul McGinley made no excuses for Europe's dismal showing on the first two days of the Royal Trophy and took his hat off to Asia.

Jose Maria Olazabal's European side is teetering on the brink of a humiliating defeat as they trail by five points with just eight singles matches remaining.

And McGinley confessed that he is impressed by the performances of the Asia side, which lost by two points in 2006 and a whopping nine-point margin when the sides last met in January 2007.

Comparing the Asian revival to Europe's Ryder Cup renaissance of the 1980s, McGinley looks certain to finish on the losing side for the first time after three Ryder Cup and two Royal Trophy wins so far in his career.

"I think it is the case that the Asian Team seem to be able to go up a gear that they haven’t done in the past," he said after losing 4 and 2 with partner Pablo Larrazabal to Prayad Marksaeng and Thongchai Jaidee.

“We came at them strongly today from three down and dominated play around the middle of the game. There was a huge hole on the 12th when Pablo had an eight-footer but Jaidee made a very important putt from distance to swing the putt back in their direction.

“That is what the professional game is all about and that is what have experience is all about because when you have it then you know when the crucial moments like that are.

“If you can hole a putt ‘against the head’ to use that phrase then you can do very well. I think all credit should go to the Asian Team because they have raised the bar.

“I don’t think we have been really bad this week but the Asians are showing that the success they have had recently is no flash in the pan.

“They have raised their game and you can see the similarities to where we were in Europe against the USA 25 years ago when we were getting closer and closer. Then it went so far the other way that we were winning by record margins.

“I am not saying that Asia will win by a record margin but they have certainly raised their game since the last Royal Trophy. We might not be at our sharpest, but they have had momentum the whole week.

“We have proved that in the past at The Ryder Cup: when you have momentum as a team then the putts start to go in more regularly and that has been the case for the Asian team.

“Give them credit. They have played great and have putted the lights out, especially when the pressure has been on for them to make something happen.”