Tough First Day for Americans at International Crown


Even though they came in as the No. 1 seed in the International Crown, the four-person American contingent came up short in Day 1 of the inaugural LPGA Tour team event at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mill, Md.

The USA team - comprised of Stacy Lewis, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr and Lexi Thompson - didn't win a point Thursday against Taiwan, suffering 4 and 3 and 1-up defeats in the two four-ball matches.

Creamer and Kerr lost 4 and 3 to Candie Kung and Teresa Lu, and Yani Tseng and Phoebe Yao squeaked past Lewis and Thompson in the second match.

Tseng, a 15-time LPGA winner and five-time major champion, made the winning putt after Lewis - currently the top-ranked female golfer in the world - missed from a bit longer distance.

"I haven't had this feeling for a long time," said Tseng, in the midst of a long winless drought that hasn't included a title since the 2012 Kia Classic. "I made that birdie putt, my hands were shaking."

"There's probably more pressure with being No. 1, but we all knew coming into match play that anything can happen," Lewis said. "It always comes down to one putt here and there."

Lewis was pleased with her and Thompson's competitiveness, but felt Tseng was going to make the deciding putt. "Lexi and I, I was proud of her. We hung in there. We couldn't get many putts to fall, but we kept hanging in there all day. And Yani making that, we both kind of had a feeling she was going to make that putt on 18, just the way she had putted all day and just the way things had gone.

"So it certainly hurts to lose there on the last hole and just because we hung in there so well all day," added Lewis, a three-time winner this year. "But like Cristie said when we were coming over here, there's teams that could get zero points the next two days as well. So we have still got a long ways to go."

The Taiwan squad now leads the Pool A bracket with four points. In second place is Spain, which earned three points over Thailand. The match between Belen Mozo and Beatriz Recari against the Thai sisters, Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn, ended up all-square, giving each team a point, while Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz forged a 3 and 2 victory over Pornanong Phatlum and Onnarin Sattayabanphot.

In Pool B, Japan tallied three points off a 2-up win by Ai Miyazato and Sakura Yokomine over Sweden's Pernilla Lindberg and Mikaela Parmlid. The first match was halved by Japan's Mamiko Higa and Mika Miyazato (no relation to Ai) and Caroline Hedwall and Anna Nordqvist.

South Korea and Australia split their two four-ball matches, with each earning two points. Inbee Park and So Yeon Ryu beat Katherine Kirk and Lindsey Wright 3 and 2, while Aussies Minjee Lee, an 18-year-old amateur from Perth, and World Golf Hall of Fame member Karrie Webb forged a 2-up win over Na Yeon Choi and I.K. Kim.

Team USA was the only team that didn't score a point on the first day. Afterward, the Americans tried to put a good spin on what they'll be facing in Friday's four-ball matches.

"You just have to keep positive and try to find the good in the day," Kerr said. "We're going to be coming out guns a blazing. We have nothing to lose from here on in.

"There's a lot of golf left this week, and some teams that maybe won three points today might get shut out tomorrow," Kerr added.

On Day 2 in Pool A, the Yanks will face Spain, and Taiwan will go against Thailand. Pool B match-ups are Japan against Australia and South Korea versus Sweden.

Ai Miyazato noted it took her awhile to adjust to playing alongside Yokomine, whose great start - with two birdies in her first four holes - gave the Japanese a quick 2-up lead, helped give the nine-time LPGA winner confidence. "It was kind of difficult to start the first few holes because I haven't had the team play since when I was 20 or something, which means eight years ago," Miyazato said.

"So I was still searching for my pace the first couple holes. But then she got a good start, so after a few holes I was like, okay, so just stay focused on my game."

The tournament format involves three days of four-ball. Each country will play every other country in their bracket in the first three rounds to determine which five countries advance to Sunday's singles matches. All points from the four-ball matches will carry over to Sunday's matches, when each country will play a singles match against every other country. The total cumulative points from the four days of competition will be used to determine the overall International Crown champion.

The International Crown will be held in the off-years from the biennial Solheim Cup, which involves 12-person teams from the USA and Europe.

For all the scores, visit http://www.lpgascoring.com/public/IntlCrown.aspx.