[Photo: Courtesy of LPGA Tour]
Inspired by a virtuoso performance by Minjee Lee, Australia are the champions of women’s professional golf, lifting the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown for the first time in Seoul, Korea.
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The Australia team of Lee, Hannah Green, Grace Kim and Steph Kyriacou came from behind multiple times during a gruelling week before eventually prevailing in the championship final against the United States.
The victory is redemption for the Aussies who succumbed to Thailand in the final of the biennial event two years ago in San Francisco. Australia is the fifth different winner in five stagings of the International Crown since it was first held in 2014.
World No.3 Lee went unbeaten during her five matches in the eight-team format that comprised best-ball in the group stages, then singles and foursomes on championship Sunday.
All four Australians contributed at critical stages.
Kyriacou, who teamed with Lee over the first three days, sank a difficult putt on the 18th green in their group match against the dynamic American duo of Angel Yin and Yealimi Noh to claim a critical half-point that sent the Aussies into the semi-finals.
That the Australians even made it to the final was a minor miracle given the situation they found themselves late in their Sunday morning semi against the World Team, comprised of four players whose home country didn’t qualify for the event.
Lee was 3 down through 12 holes against Canadian Brooke Henderson but rallied with four closing birdies to steal the match, 1 up.
In the decisive foursomes, Kim and Kyriacou played the back-nine in four-under-par in cold, wet conditions. Kim sank a tricky putt on the 18th to send the match to extra holes and the Aussies advanced on the 20th hole after New Zealand Hall of Famer Lydia Ko carved her drive into the trees.
The Aussies saved their best performance for Sunday afternoon in the final against the Americans. Lee was unstoppable against world No.10 Yin, winning their singles encounter 2&1.
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World No.18 Green won by the same margin against the red-hot Noh, who was a late addition to the US team after the withdrawal of world No.2 Nelly Korda. Green had played reasonably well all week but was yet to contribute a point. The major champion rattled off four consecutive front-nine birdies to establish a three-hole lead before sinking the championship-winning putt on the 17th.
The foursomes match between Kim and Kyriacou against Lauren Coughlin and Lilia Vu was inconsequential, with the Australians winning 1 up.
It was a fitting climax for Lee who is the only golfer to appear in all five editions of the International Crown: “I’m so happy that I could do it with these girls. It was just a lot of fun this whole week. Playing matchplay is something different and we don’t really get to do it too often.”
World No.42 Kyriacou thrived in the pressure-cooker environment in her International Crown debut. She acknowledged the never-say-die attitude of the Aussies was the difference during five exhausting rounds of golf.
“I think it takes a lot of grit to win. In a lot of our matches we were behind the eight-ball, especially going into the back nine. I don’t think we were up in a match. Me and Minjee definitely weren’t. We managed to come back in every match. I think having grit throughout the week got us over the line.”
