by TONY KIM
While most teams participating in the inaugural LPGA International Crown tournament are competing for honor and glory, the South Koreans are committed to winning the Crown to ease the pain of a country that has suffered its worst ferry disaster since 1970.
“After that all Koreans were feeling pretty sad. Everybody still thinks about that and all the young kids and feels really sad,” ninth-ranked Ryu So-Yeon told AFP. “So we really want to win this tournament and give a really great energy to all the Koreans. That means this tournament feels more bigger than the Olympic Games.”
South Korea, who is coming into the competition as the second seed, is also hoping to upset the U.S. in the finals and regain the dominant position it has held for years. America was just able to edge out the top-seeded Korean team in March when the qualifying rounds ended. For the current season, the American golfers were also able to win 11 out of the first 17 LPGA tournaments.
“The American players are playing very well this year and obviously it hasn’t been like the last couple years,” last year’s No. 1-ranked Inbee Park told Channel News Asia. “We definitely feel the pressure and we definitely feel like we have to step it up a little bit this year and try to change some kind of rhythm.”
The winning team will take home $1.6 million and the first International Crown. You can learn more about the tournament format here.
The first round concluded Thursday with Korea winning one match and conceding another to Australia, placing both countries in second place in pool B. Japan is currently first place in pool B after winning a match and tying with Sweden, who is in last place. The U.S. suffered a devastating upset against eighth seed Chinese Taepei by losing both of their matches, putting the U.S. last place and Chinese Taepei in first place in pool A. Spain is in second place after winning one match and tying the other with Thailand, who is in third place.
For round two on Friday, Thailand will face Chinese Taipei (at 8:50 a.m. E.D.T.), USA will face Spain (10:20 a.m. E.D.T.), Japan will face Australia (9:20 a.m. E.D.T.) and Korea will face Sweden (9:50 a.m. E.D.T.).
Photo via Sports Asia
