Korea wins 1 of 2 matches vs. Sweden to begin LPGA match-play event at home
Kim Hyo-joo of Korea tees off on the ninth hole during her fourball match against Maja Stark and Linn Grant of Sweden at the International Crown at New Korea Country Club in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. Yonhap
The host Korea beat Sweden in one match and had a tie in another to begin the LPGA match-play competition Thursday.
Kim Hyo-joo and Choi Hye-jin for the third-seeded South Korea teamed up to beat Maja Stark and Linn Grant of the No. 6 seed Sweden 3 & 2 in their fourball contest of the International Crown at New Korea Country Club in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul.
Ko Jin-young and Ryu Hae-ran got a tie against Ingrid Lindblad and Madelene Sagstrom on the par-72, 6,385-yard course.
In the Kim-Choi vs. Stark-Grant match, Korea won the par-3 second hole with Choi's birdie, but Grant's birdie on the next hole allowed Sweden to tie the match.
Korea regained its lead thanks to Kim's birdie on the par-5 fourth hole, and the duo did not lose another hole the rest of the way. The South Koreans went up by three holes by winning the par-4 ninth with a birdie and closed out the Swedes on the 16th hole.
In the other match, Ko and Ryu held a 1-up lead through 13 holes, but Lindblad made a birdie on the par-5 14th to win that hole for Sweden and tie the match. And it stayed that way as the teams matched pars and birdies over the remaining four holes.
The International Crown has brought together seven countries — Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Sweden and China — plus the World team, made up of players from countries not already qualified from the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania, among others.
A match win is worth one point, and a half point is awarded to each team in case of a tie.
Teams were seeded based on the world ranking positions of their top four players as of Aug. 4, and did not change despite recent injury withdrawals.
Teams seeded 1, 4, 5 and 8 are in Pool A, and seeds 2, 3, 6 and 7 ended up in Pool B. Korea will next play the seventh-seeded World Team on Friday and then No. 2 seed Japan on Saturday.
In other matches Thursday, the World Team got 1 1/2 points against Japan.
Brooke Henderson of Canada and Hsu Wei-Ling of Chinese Taipei beat Ayaka Furue and Mao Saigo 2 & 1. Charley Hull of England and Lydia Ko of New Zealand got a tie against Miyu Yamashita and Rio Takeda.
In Pool A action, the defending champion Thailand, seeded fifth, split its two matches against No. 4 seed Australia.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul and Pajaree Anannarukarn got a point for Thailand with a 1-up victory over Hannah Green and Grace Kim. Minjee Lee and Stephanie Kyriacou answered for Australia with a 2-up win over Chanettee Wannasaen and Jasmine Suwannapura.
The top seed U.S. won both of its matches. Yealimi Noh and Angel Yin dispatched Liu Yan and Yin Ruoning 5 & 4, while Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin beat Zhang Weiwei and Liu Ruixin 1-up.
The top two teams from each pool through Saturday will advance to the semifinals, set for Sunday morning. The final is scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
All pool matches will be played in the fourball format, where each player hits her own ball and the lower score of the two teammates counts as the team's score on each hole.
The semifinals and the final will see a combination of the foursome, where each team plays one ball and the two teammates take turns in hitting shots until the hole is completed, and the singles, a one-on-one battle.
This is the fifth edition of the International Crown, and the first four events all produced a different champion. Korea won the 2018 competition as the first-time host.