Goyang (South Korea), Oct 26: Australia beat the United States Team to win LPGA’s International Crown tournament on Sunday, clinching the title after Minjee Lee and Hannah Green took both of their singles matches, with each winning, 2 and 1, over Angel Yin and Yealimi Noh, respectively.
The foursomes match between Australians Stephanie Kyriacou and Grace Kim and Americans Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin finished in a tie, but was inconsequential when Green secured victory at the 17th hole in the second singles match at the New Korea Country Club.
It’s the first win for Australia at the match-play tournament, which eluded them in 2023 when current No. 1 ranked Jeeno Thitikul and Thailand beat them in the final at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
The World team finished in third place after Charley Hull and Lydia Ko both had impressive victories in their singles matches against Japan to take an unassailable lead in the three match tie.
Hull led out for the World team with a 4 and 3 win over Ayaka Furue and Ko sealed the third place finish with a 3 and 2 win over Rio Takeda.
Mao Saigo and Miyu Yamashita beat Brooke Henderson and Wei-Ling Hsu 4 and 3 in the foursomes to narrow the deficit for the Japanese.
Semifinal heartache for World team
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Earlier Sunday, Kyriacou and Kim beat Wei-Ling and Ko of the World team on the 20th hole to clinch a place in the final for the Aussies after the singles had finished at one win apiece.
Hull had edged past Hannah Green 2 and 1 to put the World team ahead after the first singles match, before Minjee Lee rallied in her tie against Canada’s Henderson to win 1-up and level the match.
The top-seeded United States team had a more straightforward path to the final as Yin had a 2 and 1 win over Japan’s Takeda, before Noh sealed the Americans spot with hole wins at the 13th, 15th and 16th for a comfortable 4 and 2 victory over Yamashita.
Furue and Saigo took a consolation victory for Japan and ended the United States perfect record this week when they had a 1-up win of Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin in the foursomes.
Under the tournament format, seven countries and a “rest of the world” team compete in two pools. The teams and their players were determined by the women’s world ranking.
The top two countries from each pool advanced Sunday’s semifinals and final that consisted of one foursomes (alternate shot) and two singles matches.
Last week Sei Young Kim won the BMW Ladies Championship, also in South Korea. The LPGA’s Asian swing continues in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia next week and concludes in Shiga, Japan from Nov. 6-9. (AP)
