Goyang: The host South Korea fell short of qualifying for the semifinals of the LPGA match-play competition on the outskirts of Seoul on Saturday. South Korea failed to win a match for the second straight day of the International Crown, taking a tie and a loss in two fourball contests against Japan at New Korea Country Club in Goyang, just northwest of the capital city.
According to Yonhap News Agency, with the top two teams from Pools A and B advancing to the semifinals set for Sunday morning, South Korea finished third in Pool B with 2 1/2 points. The World Team, made up of players from countries not already qualified for the event, won the group with four points and Japan finished right behind with three points. Sweden also finished with 2 1/2 points.
Kim Hyo-joo and Choi Hye-jin lost to Mao Saigo and Miyu Yamashita 1-up after Kim missed a short birdie putt on the 18th hole. South Korea took a 3-up lead after Choi birdied the par-5 eighth, but then the Japanese team pushed back with consecutive birdies by Saigo on the ninth and 10th holes to cut that deficit to 1-up. Another birdie by Saigo knotted the match on the 16th hole, and Yamashita's birdie on the 18th, combined with Kim's miss, completed Japan's comeback.
In the fourball format, each golfer plays her own ball and the lower score of the two players becomes that team's score on each given hole. A match win is worth a point and a half point if given to each side in a tie.
In the other South Korea-Japan match on Saturday, Ko Jin-young and Ryu Hae-ran battled for a tie against Ayaka Furue and Rio Takeda. The Japanese team was 2-up through 11 holes but South Korea won the next two holes thanks to Ryu's birdies. The two teams then matched birdies and pars the rest of the way to each get a half point.
Over three days of fourball matches, South Korea managed just one victory, while losing twice and tying three times. South Korea had also missed out on the semifinals at the previous International Crown in 2023.
The World Team is made up of Lydia Ko of New Zealand, Charley Hull of England, Brooke Henderson of Canada, and Hsu Wei-Ling of Chinese Taipei. In Pool A, the United States had already clinched a semifinal spot after winning its first four matches through Friday. The American team of Yealimi Noh, Angel Yin, Lauren Coughlin, and Lilia Vu had a win and a tie against Australia on Saturday to win Pool A with 5 1/2 points.
Australia, featuring Minjee Lee, Grace Kim, Stephanie Kyriacou, and Hannah Green, squeezed into the semifinals with 2 1/2 points, a half point ahead of both Thailand and China. In the semifinals scheduled for Sunday morning, the U.S. will play Japan and the World Team will play Australia.
Both semifinal matches will feature two singles matches and one foursome match, in which two teammates will take turns hitting shots until the given hole is completed. The third-place match and the final for Sunday afternoon will take the same format as the semifinals.
With the defending champion Thailand out of contention, the International Crown will remain without a back-to-back winner in its fifth edition. The U.S., the 2016 champion, has a chance to become the first multiple winner of this competition. South Korea won the 2018 event as the first-time host. The winning team will receive US$500,000, with each player taking $125,000.