INCHEON, South Korea – The Republic of Korea will roll out the only roster made up entirely of major champions when the UL International Crown begins Thursday morning at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.
That’s Wednesday night back on the East Coast of the United States.
Here’s your International Crown primer with the first day lineup of fourballs (all times ET Wednesday night; Golf Channel coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET):
8:15 p.m. – England’s Charley Hull/Georgia Hall vs. Australia’s Minjee Lee/Sarah Jane Smith
8:30 p.m. – England’s Bronte Law/Jodi Ewart Shadoff vs. Australia’s Katherine Kirk/Su Oh
8:45 p.m. – Japan’s Nasa Hataoka/Ayako Uehara vs. Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn/Pornanong Phatlum
9 p.m. – Japan’s Misuzu Narita/Mamiko Higa vs. Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn/Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong
9:15 p.m. – United States’ Cristie Kerr/Lexi Thompson vs. Sweden’s Pernilla Lindberg/Madelene Sagstrom
9:30 p.m. – United States’ Jessica Korda/Michelle Wie vs. Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist/Caroline Hedwall
9:45 p.m. – Korea’s Sung Hyun Park/In-Kyung Kim vs. Chinese Taipei’s Candie Kung/Phoebe Yao
10 p.m. – South Korea’s In Gee Chun/So Yeon Ryu vs. Chinese Taipei’s Teresa Lu/Wei-Ling Hsu
The first three rounds are pool play, with four countries in each pool playing fourball matches against every other country in their pool.
THE POOLS
Pool A – Republic of Korea, England, Australia, Chinese Taipei.
Pool B – The United States, Japan, Thailand and Sweden.
THE SEEDINGS
(Average world ranking in parenthesis)
1 Republic of Korea (10.25)
2 United States (14)
3 Japan (56.25)
4 England (41.25)
5 Australia (61.75)
6 Thailand (61.5)
7 Sweden (70.5)
8 Australia (91.5)
THE ROSTERS & RANKINGS
(Rolex world rankings in parenthesis)
Republic of Korea — Sung Hyun Park (1), So Yeon Ryu (3), In-Kyung Kim (10), In Gee Chun (27).
United States – Lexi Thompson (5), Jessica Korda (11), Cristie Kerr (19), Michelle Wie (21).
Japan – Nasa Hataoka (14), Misuzu Narita (66), Mamiko Higa (44), Ayako Uehara (101).
England – Georgia Hall (7), Charley Hull (33), Jodi Ewart Shadoff (62), Bronte Law (63).
Australia – Minjee Lee (6), Katherine Kirk (69), Sarah Jane Smith (97), Su Oh (75).
Thailand – Ariya Jutanugarn (2), Moriya Jutanugarn (15), Pornanong Phatlum (50), Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong (179).
Sweden – Anna Nordqvist (20), Pernilla Lindberg (39), Madelene Sagstrom (98), Caroline Hedwall (125)
Chinese Taipei – Teresa Lu (46), Wei-Ling Hsu (64), Phoebe Yao (94), Candie Kung (162).
THE PURSE
$1.6 million ($100,000 per player to the winning team, $60,000 per player to the runner up with pay outs down to $30,000 for the eighth place team).
THE FORMAT
Round-Robin Pool Play:
• A country will play two fourball matches against the three other countries in their pool over the first three days.
• Each team plays a different country (within its pool) each day.
• Points are awarded for a win (2 points) and a halve (1 point).
QUALIFYING FOR SUNDAY
The two countries with the most points in each pool automatically advance to Sunday.
• If there is a tie for first or second within a pool, the following tie-breaker will be used:
– Total points accumulated in head-to-head matchups between the tied teams.
– Total number of matches won in all six four-ball matches.
– Highest seeded team entering competition.
• The country with the third most points in each pool will compete in a wildcard playoff on Saturday night to determine the fifth and final country to advance to Sunday.
• Each country in the wild-card playoff must choose two players to represent them (within 5 minutes of the conclusion of regular play). The format for the playoff will be sudden-death fourballs. The tie-breaker will be the second ball from each country.
SUNDAY SINGLES
• The five countries will be seeded based on their total points from the first three days.
• If countries are tied, the following tie-breaker will be used:
– Total points earned in head-to-head matchup (if they were in the same pool).
– Total number of matches won in all six four-ball matches.
– Highest seeded team entering competition.
• With five teams advancing, that leaves 20 players for Sunday singles, setting up 10 matches. Each country will play one singles match against every other country that advanced to singles.
THE CROWN
The country with the most points accumulated over four days wins. If there’s a tie, a Sunday playoff will determine who wins the crown:
• Each country in the playoff will choose a single player to represent it (within 5 minutes of the conclusion of play).
• The format will be sudden-death match play.
Source: Internet
