SAN FRANCISCO – The semi-final venue at the International Crown LPGA team event is almost decided with a day of pool play as Sweden, Australia and Thailand all clinched spots and the USA swept both matches on Friday to move to the brink of progression.
Sweden maintained their Group A status by winning both matches against China, while Thailand beat defending champions South Korea and Australia beat Japan to advance from Group B on a cold and sultry day at TBC Harding Park.
“I feel like we had a lot of fun this week, and I feel like that worked for us,” said Anna Nordqvist of Sweden.
The United States have three points after two days in Group A and will clinch the final spot in Sunday’s knockout round by getting at least half a point on Saturday against Sweden or if China does not sweep England.
The International Crown is a match-play tournament featuring teams of four players from eight countries. The teams are divided into two groups of four countries, with the top two teams from each group qualifying three days after the four-ball four-ball tournament, which advances to the semi-finals on Sunday. Teams get one point for every win and half for every tied game.
Lexi Thompson sealed the final in the United States that day when she holed a birdie putt from about 12 feet on the 16th hole to give her and Danielle Kang a 3-2 victory over England’s Bronte Law and Judy Ewart Chadoff.
“It was a pretty big break, so I played a two-and-a-half pint, a little bit uphill, so I knew I could be a little aggressive,” Thompson said. “But I was just trying to give myself a birdie chance to get into that pin.”
Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu won for the second day in a row, defeating Alice Hewson and Liz Young 2 and 1 thanks to another strong nine defense.
Korda and Vu lost their first two holes, but fought back to tie with birdies on the third and sixth holes and then won three straights from No. 12-14 to dominate in the same part of the course that turned into their first match on Thursday against China.
“I think it’s time to make a move and then we just got aggressive and acted like that,” Fu said.
Seven of the eight teams kept the same pairs on the second day with only Japan switching. Yuka Saso played Hinako Shibuno the day after losing a match to Thailand’s Ayaka Furio. Furue has collaborated with NASA Hatooka.
It didn’t help in the end, as both Furue and Hataoka lost 2 points to Australian Minjee Lee and Stephanie Kyriacou. Sasu and Shibono drew Hannah Green and Sarah Kemp but it wasn’t enough to stave off elimination.
Perhaps the hardest part for Australians was dealing with the weather with temperatures in the 50’s, brisk winds and light rain at the end of the day. Green wore large white earmuffs in an effort to stay warm.
“We all have a lot of layers,” Kemp said. “We grew up playing in just a jersey, that’s it, and shorts. So, that’s very different for us. When I have that number of layers, it’s probably at least half a team less, and it got really windy once I got out the back.” The wind was really starting to pick up. It felt uncomfortably cold when we got to 11 and 12, but I’ve been trying to do these little jumps and stuff. But we’re not used to it. We’d rather the sun come out tomorrow.”
Nordqvist and Caroline Hedwall pared five of their first six holes to go up a par 3 and beat Yu Liu and Ruixin Liu 2 and 1. Madeleine Sagström and Maja Stark beat Runing Yin and Xiu Lin 2 and 1 in the other match.
Thailand, who entered the week as the sixth seed, stayed perfect this week with Akhet’s tandem of Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn defeating South Korea’s Hae Jin Choi and NJ Chun 2&1, and Patti Tavatanakit and Athaiah Theticul by defeating Jin Young Koo. and Heo Joo Kim 3 and 2.
This is the fourth time this tournament has been held after it was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Spain won the inaugural tournament in 2014, followed by the United States in 2016 and South Korea in 2018.
This is the first women’s professional event to be played at TPC Harding Park, which has hosted several large men’s events, including the 2009 Presidents’ Cup and the 2020 PGA Championship.