Minjee Lee and Hannah Green recorded 2 and 1 wins in each of their singles matches in the final on Sunday, helping Australia defeat the United States to capture the LPGA’s International Crown tournament in Goyang-si, South Korea.
Lee and Green dispatched Angel Yin and Yealimi Noh, respectively, after Australians Stephanie Kyriacou and Grace Kim and Americans Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin finished in a tie at the biennial event at the New Korea Country Club.
“It was a really tight match from the very beginning. We kind of went back and forth with birdies. I don’t think we won a hole with a par. We were both winning with birdies,” said Lee, who won holes Nos. 16 and 17 to close out her match.
“I think I holed a nice putt for birdie, and then the next hole, Angel made bogey, and I only needed to make par to go 2 up on 17. I think we both played really solid. It was just nice to be able to win that first match.”
Australia benefited from a win on the 20th hole to topple the World team earlier on Sunday and punch its ticket to the final. From there, the Aussies avenged their runner-up finish in 2023, when they fell to Thailand in the final at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
The Americans advanced to the final after Yin secured a 2 and 1 win over Japan’s Rio Takeda and Noh posted a 4 and 2 victory over Miyu Yamashita.
“We played great. We knew how much it meant,” Yin said of the semifinal round. “Obviously, going off first, 7 in the morning, the sun wasn’t even up when we were playing golf already. So I don’t know, (it was) just good golf all around. Make a bogey, lose a hole. If you make a par, you could lose a hole, too. It was really tight competition. Everybody was making putts and playing good golf.”
Noh took a different approach as the Americans bid for the first tournament win in the International Crown since 2016.
“Just have fun with it,” she said. “We’re in the finals. Just play some good golf out there.”
Charley Hull and Lydia Ko each recorded a victory in their singles matches against Japan, helping the World team to a third-place finish. Hull posted a 4 and 3 win over Ayaka Furue and Ko notched a 3 and 2 victory over Takeda.
