Americans win fourth straight fourball match at the LPGA’s International Crown team event

By Canadian Press on October 24, 2025.

GOYANG, South Korea (AP) — The United States stayed perfect at the LPGA’s International Crown tournament on Friday, winning its third and fourth fourball matches and ending No. 1-ranked Jeeno Thitikul unbeaten record in the team competition.

Americans Yealimi Noh and Angel Yin beat Thitikul and Pajaree Anannarukarn 5 and 4, handing Thitikul her first loss after six consecutive match wins in the event. Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin later won the second fourball match for the Americans, beating Chanettee Wannasaen and Jasmine Suwannapura 3 and 2.

On Thursday, the top-seeded Americans beat China twice. The U.S. leads Pool A with four points and has all but clinched a place in Sunday’s semifinals. All eight teams will play a third set of fourball matches on Saturday.

Australia and China split their Pool A fourball matches Friday. Minjee Lee and Stephanie Kyriacou beat Zhang Weiwei and Liu Yan 2 and 1 and China’s Yin Ruoning and Ruixin Liu defeated Australians Hannah Green and Grace Kim 1-up.

In Pool B, Japan and Sweden also split Friday’s matches. Miyu Yamashita and Rio Takeda beat Madelene Sagstrom and Ingrid Lindblad 3 and 2 but Maja Stark and Linn Grant gave Sweden a win, defeating Mao Saigo and Ayaka Furue 3 and 2.

South Korea was playing a World Team, including New Zealander Lydia Ko. Canadian Brooke Henderson and England’s Charley Hull, in two Pool B fourball matches later Friday.

Under the tournament format, seven countries and a “rest of the world” team compete in two pools — the U.S., China, Australia and Thailand in Pool A, and South Korea, the World team, Japan and Sweden in Pool B. The teams and their players were determined by the women’s world ranking.

The top two countries from each pool advance to Sunday’s semifinals and final that consists of one foursomes (alternate shot) and two singles matches.

Last week Sei Young Kim won the BMW Ladies Championship, also in South Korea. The LPGA’s Asian swing continues in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia next week and concludes in Shiga, Japan from Nov. 6-9.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

The Associated Press

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