Canada’s Brooke Henderson and Taiwan’s Wei-Ling Hsu defeated Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom and Ingrid Lindblad, 4 and 3, on Saturday to secure the World team’s spot in the International Crown semifinals.
The victory gave the World team its fourth point in Pool B, coming from three wins and two ties in the LPGA team competition at New Korea Country Club.
In a later match, Sweden’s Maja Stark and Linn Grant beat the World team’s Charley Hull and Lydia Ko, 3 and 1.
Australia also advanced from Pool A, while Japan qualified from Pool B alongside the World team.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for the World team to come true, and I’m just so grateful to be a part of this team,” Henderson said. “It’s been an incredible opportunity so far. I love my partner here. Wei-Ling bailed me out a lot today, and she played amazing all week. It’s been so much fun, and I’m really excited for tomorrow.”
The United States had already locked up its semifinal berth from Pool A before Saturday’s final round of fourball matches, winning its first four contests.
The semifinals will pit the U.S. against Japan, while the World team takes on Australia.
The tournament’s unique format brings together seven countries plus a “rest of the world” team competing in two pools. Teams and players were selected based on the women’s world ranking.
The top two countries from each pool advance to Sunday’s semifinals and final, which consists of one foursomes (alternate shot) and two singles matches.
The LPGA’s Asian swing continues next week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, following Sei Young Kim’s victory at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea last week. The Asian schedule concludes in Shiga, Japan from Nov. 6-9.
