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International Crown – Teams Are Taking Form

By Elizabeth Bethel

OWINGS MILLS, MD - JULY 27: Carlota Ciganda of Spain celebrates on the 16th green after Spain won the International Crown at Cave Valley Golf Club on July 27, 2014 in Owings Mills, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
OWINGS MILLS, MD - JULY 27: Carlota Ciganda of Spain celebrates on the 16th green after Spain won the International Crown at Cave Valley Golf Club on July 27, 2014 in Owings Mills, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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This will be a year for the Chinese team to gain some match play experience.

Shanshan Feng is delighted that China qualified for the International Crown this year. Feng will lead the Chinese team and will likely be joined by Xiyu Lin, Jing Yan, and Yting Shi, with Simin Feng and Haruka Morita-Wanyao Lu in reserve.

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The Chinese players will bring very limited team play experience to the 2016 Crown – largely a function of the state of the game in China. There’s no doubt that Shanshan Feng will bring all her off-course leadership skills to bear in preparing and guiding the Chinese team, but they’re the weakest in the field and also the least experienced at match play competition.

This will be a year of learning for China.

Preliminary Fantasy Line-Up

As I reflect on the 8 teams in their preliminary form, I can see some interesting competitions shaping up: United States vs England will involve a degree of Solheim Cup dynamics. The English team is more evenly matched with the United States team than it might initially appear.

Thailand v Korea could prove an upset. Even though the Thai team looks to be the weaker of the two, uncertainties within the Korean team and internal leadership ambiguities may open the door for the Jutanugarn Sister Act to lead the Thais to a dominant position.

Look for the Australians to improve over their 2014 last place finish. Minjee Lee has two more years’ experience in her bag and Lee has team play experience with both Karrie Webb and Su Oh that should serve this team well. Artis will be a dependable partner.

Next: Predicting the 2016 Major Champions

I’m rating Chinese Taipei and China at the bottom of my preliminary fantasy rankings of the 2016 International Crown teams, with Japan still a question mark. Let’s see how things stand at the end of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

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