Korea big favorite to win UL International Crown
Finally, the biggest event of this Chicago golf season has arrived.
The four players on Team U.S. for the second UL International Crown were the first on the course for Tuesday's practice rounds at the Merit Club, and they admitted their task in the eight-team event that tees off Thursday will be a difficult one.
The U.S. is seeded second to the Republic of Korea, which has all four of its players listed in the top 12 of the Rolex World Rankings. Those rankings determined both the teams and players in the match-play event, so Korea would seem a shoo-in to win the title Sunday.
"It's a hard format to really predict who's favored," insisted a still hopeful Cristie Kerr, the veteran member of the U.S. team. "Match play is very unpredictable, but there were a lot of USA fans following us in the practice rounds, and it's great to be the home team."
The U.S. was the top-seeded team in the first Crown event, staged two years ago in Maryland, but didn't even survive the first three days of best-ball competition. Seeded second in 2014, Korea did by beating the U.S. in a playoff for the fifth and final berth in the concluding singles portion of the competition.
Neither the U.S. nor Korea did well in the first Crown, despite their lofty seedings. Spain and Sweden, countries that didn't qualify for the second Crown, finished 1-2 with Korea third.
Both the U.S. and Korea have altered lineups for the second Crown.
The U.S. returns Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis and Kerr, with Gerina Piller replacing Paula Creamer. Thompson, the top-ranked player in this week's competition, is No. 4 in the world and only Lewis (8) also is in the top 10.
Korea's lowest-ranked player, So Yeon Ryu at No. 12, is the only returnee from its team that played in Maryland. Her new teammates are Sei Young Kim (5), Amy Yang (7) and In Gee Chun (9). Inbee Park, ranked No. 3, dropped out with a hand injury.
"What they're doing is pretty amazing," said Lewis of the Korean contingent. "To have so many players in the top 15 in the world, it's amazing how well they play. Inbee is out, but the next option is really pretty good."
"It's not a rivalry that we have with them," Kerr said. "We're just trying to keep up. They have the numbers versus us."
At least the U.S. and Korea will understand the unique competitive format better this time. The first three days calls for best-ball matches against the teams in their group.
The U.S. opens against England on Thursday and also squares off with Thailand on Friday and Japan on Saturday.
Korea faces China first, then has Chinese Taipei on Friday and Australia on Saturday. Teams get 2 points for a match win and 1 for a tie, and the top five in the point standings after Saturday go into singles play Sunday to determine the champion.
"The format was just a little difficult to understand," Thompson said of the first Crown. "I felt like nobody really should have been eliminated."
"In this format so many teams are dangerous," Lewis said. "I don't think you can always go off the rankings in a best-ball format. It's who can make the most birdies in a day."
There will be plenty of those, as the Merit Club setup is much different from how it was for its only other big event, the 2000 U.S. Women's Open.
"It's not even close to what they played for the Open," Lewis said. "There's reachable par-5s and drivable par-4s and a lot of tee options, so it's going to make for great golf.
"You're going to see a lot of birdies. You're going to probably see a bunch of eagles on some par-5s. We're not going to be struggling to make pars, and it's going to look great on TV."
Here and there:
• The Illinois Women's Open concludes Wednesday at Mistwood in Romeoville, and the Illinois State Amateur wraps up Thursday at St. Charles Country Club.
• Panther Creek, the Springfield course that hosted last year's Illinois State Amateur, was easy pickings for the Web.com Tour players at their new Lincoln Land Charity Championship. Deerfield's Vince India posted four rounds in the 60s and could do no better than a tie for 33rd, 10 shots behind champion Martin Flores, who posted a 22-under-par 262 total.
• Kate Lillie, of St. Charles, was a 3 and 1 winner over Penelope Tir of Winnetka in an all-Chicago area final at the Women's Western Golf Association Junior championship at Blackhawk in Madison, Wisconsin.
• Dick Wagley, retired head professional at Indian Hill in Winnetka, was the only player under par Monday at the Illinois PGA Senior Masters. He shot a 1-under-70.
• For more golf news, visit lenziehmongolf.com. Len can be contacted by email at lenziehm@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZiehmLen and check out his posts at Facebook.com/lenziehmongolf.