Summary
GOYANG, South Korea (AP) — The U.S. team remained undefeated at the LPGA International Crown tournament, winning their third and fourth four-bowling matches on Friday and breaking the unbeaten record of Jeeno Thitikul, the world's top-ranked player. Yealimi Noh and Angel Yin, representing the U.S., defeated Thitikul and Pajaree Anannarukarn 5 and 4, marking Thitikul's first loss after six consecutive victories in the competition. Later, Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin also won their second four-bowling match, defeating Chanettee Wannasaen and Jasmine Suwannapura 3 and 2 at the New Korea Country Club.
On Thursday, the Americans, the tournament's top seed, had won twice against China. With these victories, the U.S. remains the only undefeated team in the competition, leading Group A with four points and securing their place in Sunday's semifinals. All teams will play a third set of four-bowl 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 China's Yin Ruoning and Ruixin Liu edged out Australia's Hannah Green and Grace Kim 1-up. In Group B, Japan and Sweden also split victories. Miyu Yamashita and Rio Takeda beat Madelene Sagstrom and Ingrid Lindblad 3 and 2, but Maja Stark and Linn Grant gave Sweden a win by defeating Mao Saigo and Ayaka Furue 3 and 2.
Key details
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 New Zealand teammate 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 don’t want to hit it too hard because I don’t want it to bounce back,” Hull said. “So I thought I’d just aim for it and avoid the stress.”
As for the tournament format, seven countries and one "rest of the world" team compete in two groups. The teams and their players were determined by the women's world rankings. The top two countries from each group advance to the semifinals and finals on Sunday, which consist of a foursomes match (alternate shot) and two singles matches. Last week, Sei Young Kim won the BMW Ladies Championship, also in South Korea. The LPGA Asian Tour continues in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, next week and concludes in Shiga, Japan, from November 6-9.
