Host Korea goes winless on Day 2 at International Crown
Ko Jin-young of Korea watches her tee shot on the ninth hole during the pool B match against World team for the LPGA International Crown golf tournament at the New Korea Country Club in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. AP-Yonhap
Korea failed to win a match against the World Team on the second day of the International Crown on Friday, blowing late leads to take a tie and a loss.
Ko Jin-young and Ryu Hae-ran for the No. 2 seed Korea got a tie against Brooke Henderson of Canada and Hsu Wei-Ling of Chinese Taipei of the seventh-seed World Team in their fourball match on Day 2 of the LPGA match-play competition at New Korea Country Club in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul.
Kim Hyo-joo and Choi Hye-jin lost 1-up to Charley Hull of England and Lydia Ko of New Zealand.
Korea had a win and a tie against Sweden to open this competition Thursday. A match win is worth one point, and a half point is awarded to each team in case of a tie. The host country will play Japan on Saturday.
With two points through two days, Korea is in second place in Pool B, with the World Team leading the way at three points. Japan and Sweden, the two other teams in Pool B, have 1 1/2 point each.
The International Crown features seven countries — Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Sweden and China — plus the brand-new World team, made up of players from countries not already qualified.
Teams seeded 1, 4, 5 and 8 are in Pool A, and seeds 2, 3, 6 and 7 ended up in Pool B.
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.
Ko and Ryu were leading their opponents through 16 holes, but Henderson's birdie pulled the World Team even, and the match ended in a tie.
Kim and Choi never led their match but drew level as both Ko and Ryu made birdies on the 17th. But both players for the World Team made birdies on the closing hole, while neither Korean player was able to match that.
In Friday's other matches, No. 4 seed Australia and No. 8 seed China split their two matches in Pool A action. Minjee Lee and Stephanie Kyriacou defeated Liu Yan and Zhang Weiwei 2 & 1, while Liu Ruixin and Yin Ruonin got a point for China with a 1-up victory over Hannah Green and Grace Kim.
No. 2 seed Japan had a win and a loss against No. 6 seed Sweden in Pool B. Miyu Yamashita and Rio Takeda beat Madelene Sagstrom and Ingrid Lindblad 3 & 2. Sweden returned the favor as Maja Stark and Linn Grant beat Ayaka Furue and Mao Saigo of Japan 3 & 2.
The top-seeded U.S. remains the only team to win all four matches over the first two days of the competition, following two victories over No. 5 seed Thailand on Friday in Pool A.
Yealimi Noh and Angel Yin hammered Jeeno Thitikul and Pajaree Anannarukarn 5 & 4. And then Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin handled Chanettee Wannasaen and Jasmine Suwannapura 3 & 2.
With their four points, the Americans booked a spot in the semifinals set for Sunday, with one more day of pool play left Saturday.