Goyang, South Korea — The United States defeated China twice in the four-ball game on Thursday, the first day of the LPGA International Crown Tournament, and world No. 1 Gino Titikul had a perfect performance in the team event.
Titikul and her partner Pajari Anannarkhan (Thailand) defeated Hannah Green and Grace Kim (Australia) by one at New Korea Country Club. Titikul has won six consecutive games in team competitions.
The win came after Australia’s Minjee Lee and Steph Kyriacou defeated Chanetee Wanasen and Jasmine Suvarnapura by two points to share points with Thailand on the opening day.
America’s Yearimi No and Angel Ying defeated China’s Liu Yan and Ying Ruoning 5 wins and 4 losses, while Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin defeated Zhang Weiwei and Liu Ruixin 1 up.
The United States was the only team to win both opening games.
Japan led the world team from the start in both four-ball matches, but Charlie Hull and Lydia Ko birdied the final hole to join Rio Takeda and Miyu Yamashita. Brooke Henderson and Su Weilin then won 2-1 over Ayaka Furue and Mao Saigo, earning them 1.5 points over their opponents.
Hull’s birdie on the 12th hole brought Hull and Ko back to 1 down, and they stayed 1 down until the par-4 18th hole, when Ko finally sank a 25-foot birdie putt to tie the match.
“The only way to extend the match was for me to hole the putt on the 17th,” Ko said. “At our length, birdie putts are not guaranteed at all, but I felt I shouldn’t let the team down. Charlie held so many good birdie putts and kept us in the game, and I just came in to ride the last two.”
The host team got off to a good start with South Korea’s Kim Hyo-joo and Choi Hye-jin defeating Sweden’s Maya Stark and Lynn Grant 3-2, while Ko Jin-young and Ryu Hye-ran finished tied with Ingrid Lindblad and Madelene Sagström.
The tournament format sees seven countries and “rest of the world” teams competing in two pools. The United States, China, Australia, and Thailand will participate in Pool A, while South Korea, World Teams, Japan, and Sweden will participate in Pool B. The teams and their players were determined by the women’s world rankings.
The addition of the world team will also allow players such as New Zealand’s Ko and Canada’s Henderson to participate in the tournament.
Four-ball games continue Friday and Saturday. The top two countries from each pool advance to the semi-finals and final on Sunday, consisting of one foursomes match (alternating shots) and two singles matches.
Titikul was a member of the Thai team that won the International Crown at San Francisco’s TPC Harding Park in 2023, and is the only player to win the tournament. She has won six times on the LGPA Tour, including wins this season at the Mizuho Americas Open and two weeks ago in Shanghai.
Last week, Kim Sei-young won the BMW Ladies Championship, which was also held in South Korea. The LPGA Asia Swing continues next week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and concludes in Shiga, Japan from November 6th to 9th.
