GOYANG, South Korea (AP) – Australia defeated Team USA to win the LPGA International Crown Tournament on Sunday, with Minjee Lee and Hannah Green winning both singles matches and taking the title with 2-1 wins over Angel Yin and Yearimi Noh, respectively.
The four-way match between Australians Stephanie Kyriacou and Grace Kim and Americans Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin ended in a draw, but it didn’t matter when Green sealed the victory on the 17th hole of the second singles match at New Korea Country Club.
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It was Australia’s first win in a match play tournament, but they missed out on that in 2023 when current No. 1 Gino Titikul and a tie defeated Australia in the final at San Francisco’s TPC Harding Park.
Charlie Hull and Lydia Ko won a stunning singles match against Japan, giving the world team a solid lead with three draws, and the world team finished in third place.
Haru earned a place on the world team with a 4-3 win over Ayaka Furue, while Ko secured a third-place finish with a 3-2 win over Rio Takeda.
Mao Saigo and Miyu Yamashita narrowed the gap on the Japanese team by defeating Brooke Henderson and Weilin Su 4-3 in the four-a-side match.
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The heartbreaking thoughts of the world team in the semi-finals
After finishing with one win each in singles earlier on Sunday, Kiriakou and Kim defeated World Team members Weylin and Ko on the 20th hole to book the Australians a place in the final.
Hull defeated Hannah Green 2-1 in the first singles match to put the world team ahead, before Minjee Lee fought back with a tie against Canada’s Henderson, winning by one point and tying the match.
The top-seeded U.S. team had an easier path to the finals as Yin defeated Japan’s Takeda 2-1, then No won the 13th, 15th and 16th holes to defeat Yamashita 4-2, sealing America’s spot.
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Furue and Saigo handed Japan a disappointing victory, and Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin won 1-up in this week’s foursome match, ending the U.S.’s perfect record.
The tournament format sees seven countries and “rest of the world” teams competing in two pools. The teams and their players were determined by the women’s world rankings.
The top two countries from each pool advanced to Sunday’s semi-finals and final, which consisted of one foursomes match (alternating shots) and two singles matches.
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.
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AP Golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
