GOYANG, South Korea — The United States performed flawlessly at the LPGA International Crown on Friday, winning the third and fourth four-ball matches to end Gino Titikul's undefeated record at No. 1 in the team standings.
Americans Yelimi Noh and Angel Yin beat Titikul and Pajari Anannarukarna 5 and 4, handing Titikul her first loss after six straight wins in the tournament. Lilia Wu and Lauren Coughlin later won the second four-ball match for the Americans, defeating Shanette Wannasaen and Jasmine Suwannapura 3 and 2 at the New Korea Country Club.
The top-ranked Americans beat China twice on Thursday. The United States, the only unbeaten team in the tournament, leads Group A with four points and has clinched a spot in Sunday's semifinals.
All eight teams will play the third set of four-ball matches on Saturday.
Australia and China split their four-ball matches in Group A on Friday. Minjie Li and Stephanie Kyriacou beat Zhang Weiwei and Liu Yan by 2 and 1, while China's Yin Ruoning and Ruixin Liu beat Australia's Hannah Green and Grace Kim by 1.
In Group B, Japan and Sweden also split Friday's matches. Miyu Yamashita and Ryo Takeda beat Madeleine Sagström and Ingrid Lindblad by a score of 3 and 2, but Maya Stark and Lynn Grant brought victory to Sweden by defeating Mao Saigo and Ayaka Furue by a score of 3 and 2.
Team World picked up 1.5 points against South Korea and leads Group B with three points after two wins and two draws.
England's Charlie Hull holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to give her and fellow World Teammate New Zealander Lydia Ko a 1-up victory over Hyo Joo Kim and Hye-Jin Choi. Jin Young Ko and Haeran Ryu tied with Taiwan's Wei-Ling Hsu and Canada's Brooke Henderson.
“I was able to hit it, but I don't want to hit it too hard because I don't want the fiddler to come back,” Hull said. “So I just thought forget about it and get rid of the stress.”
According to the tournament format, seven countries and the “rest of the world” team compete in two groups. Teams and their players were determined by the women's world rankings.
The top two countries from each group advance to Sunday's semi-finals and final, which consists of one four-man match (alternating match) and two singles matches.
Last week, Sei Young Kim won the BMW Women's Championship, also in South Korea. The LPGA Asia Showcase continues in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia next week and concludes in Shiga, Japan November 6-9.
