Summary
GOYANG, South Korea — The U.S. team continued its perfect run at the LPGA International Cup on Friday, winning its final two fourball matches and ending the undefeated streak of world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul. Americans Yealimi Noh and Angel Yin defeated Thitikul and Pajaree Anannarukarn 5-4, marking Thitikul's first loss after six consecutive victories at the event. Later, Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin also won their fourball match, defeating Chanettee Wannasaen and Jasmine Suwannapura 3-2 at the New Korea Country Club.
On Thursday, the US team, the only undefeated team in the tournament, had defeated China twice. With this victory, they lead Group A with four points and have already secured their place in Sunday's semifinals. All teams will play a third set of fourball matches on Saturday.
In Group A, Australia and China split their matches on Friday. Minjee Lee and Stephanie Kyriacou defeated Zhang Weiwei and Liu Yan 2 and 1, while the Chinese pair of Yin Ruoning and Ruixin Liu defeated the Australian duo of Hannah Green and Grace Kim 1-up.
Key details
In Group B, Japan and Sweden also split their matches. Miyu Yamashita and Rio Takeda defeated Madelene Sagstrom and Ingrid Lindblad 3 and 2, but Maja Stark and Linn Grant gave Sweden a victory by defeating Mao Saigo and Ayaka Furue 3 and 2.
Team World earned 1.5 points against South Korea and leads Group B with three points, the result of two wins and two draws. England's Charley Hull sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, giving her and her teammate, New Zealander Lydia Ko, a 1-up victory over Hyo Joo Kim and Hye-Jin Choi. Jin Young Ko and Haeran Ryu drew their match with Taiwan's Wei-Ling Hsu and Canada's Brooke Henderson.
“I managed to hit it, but I didn’t want to hit it too hard because I didn’t want the ball to bounce back,” Hull said. “So I thought I’d just sink it and avoid the stress.”.
