International Crown: Team USA Emerges Victorious

Team USA bounced back from a disappointing day one to win the UL International Crown in front of the home crowd.

In a span of 24 hours, Team USA went from being one of the pre-tournament favorites to a team looking at an early Saturday exit at the LPGA Tour‘s UL International Crown. Seeded second out of eight teams, the Americans had a lot going for them this week. The event was held on their home turf at the Merit Club near Chicago, Illinois, and their team was headed by the highest-ranked player in the field, world No. 4 Lexi Thompson. Furthermore, there was a desire to improve upon their disappointing performance at the 2014 International Crown.

None of that mattered on the first day of competition — the USA lost both of its fourball matches to No. 7 England. Playing against the stars and stripes elevated Melissa Reid and Charley Hull’s games once again. The English duo went 7-1-1 at the 2015 Solheim Cup and took the wind out of the Americans’ sails on Thursday, defeating Gerina Piller and Stacy Lewis 2 & 1.

The other big upset on Thursday was No. 8 China’s Jing Yang and Simin Feng upending No. 1 Republic of Korea’s So Yeon Ryu and Sei Young Kim. Yang and Feng, both ranked outside of the top 70 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, never trailed in the victory over a pair of top 12 players.

Korea won its other match versus China to earn two points, but it was England and No. 5 Chinese Taipei (winners against No. 4 Australia) who led the way with four at the end of the first day.

Friday provided plenty of fireworks as six of the eight matches reached at least the 17th hole, resulting in three halved matches. Korea suffered another unexpected loss, this time to Chinese Taipei, putting in doubt the heavy favorite’s chances to advance heading into Saturday’s elimination day.

Taipei grabbed hold of the lead at six points, but England was not far behind with five. Meanwhile, the USA seized some momentum in taming the Jutanugarn-led Thai squad. The Americans earned three points to vault back into contention for one of the five spots on Sunday.

All eight teams were within three points of each other, setting the stage for a wild day three.

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Saturdays are known as “moving days” in a standard stroke play event, and that label rang true for the International Crown, too. At the start of play, every team had a chance to advance to Sunday. In contrast to day two, blowouts littered the leaderboard. The USA, riding the pairings of Gerina Piller/Stacy Lewis and Cristie Kerr/Lexi Thompson for the third straight day, cashed in for four points against Japan and an assured spot on Sunday.

Korea finally put together a complete day to grab four points against Australia and earn the top spot in Pool A. Four points proved to be the threshold for advancement to Sunday, and a three-team playoff between China, Japan and Thailand was required to determine the fifth and final team.

Japan’s Ayaka Watanabe made quick work of things, carding a birdie on the par-4 16th, the first hole in sudden death, to help her team move on.

Points accumulated in pool play carried over into Sunday, and the teams were re-seeded based off their respective point totals: 1. England (9 points), 2. Korea (8), T3. Chinese Taipei/USA (7), 5. Japan (4).

England’s hot streak came to an end on the final day, going 1-3 in the singles matches. A 2-2 effort would have been enough to reach a playoff at 13 points. Instead, the English were relegated to third place.

The next best bet, Korea, went 2-2 on Sunday, with So Yeon Ryu earning a 2 & 1 win over the USA’s Lexi Thompson in a battle of heavyweights. With England’s struggles, Korea’s total of 12 points might have been enough to grab the International Crown, but the USA rallied around Thompson with three singles wins to storm back.

Stacy Lewis took down Japan’s Mika Miyazato 3 & 2, while Gerina Piller took down Chinese Taipei’s Yani Tseng 4 & 3. Finally, Cristie Kerr polished off England’s Melissa Reid 3 & 2 in what turned out to be a dominant Sunday performance.

“This is huge, unbelievable for us,” said Lewis in a USA Today story. “To be called the best golfing nation is so satisfying. We had zero points the first day, and we still ended up with the most. It’s just a testament to these girls and their will to want to win this thing.”

USA women’s golf now adds the UL International Crown title to its trophy case, which also features the 2015 Solheim Cup.

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What was your favorite moment from the International Crown? Let us know by leaving a comment below, and keep it here at Pro Golf Now for news on the next International Crown in 2018.