US earns final semifinal spot in LPGA International Crown

SAN FRANCISCO: Lexi Thompson made back-to-back birdies on the back nine Saturday and the United States earned the final spot in the semifinals of the LPGA’s International Crown team match-play event.

The US clinched the semifinal berth late in the round when China lost its second match to England, but got a half-point anyway when Thompson and Danielle Kang rallied to tie Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom and Maja Stark. Sweden won Pool A when Anna Nordqvist and Caroline Hedwall beat Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu 1 up and will play Pool B runner-up Australia in the semifinals on Sunday. The US will take on Thailand in the other semifinal. Thailand was the only country to win all six fourball matches in pool play. The International Crown is a match-play tournament featuring teams of four players from eight countries. The teams are divided into two pools of four countries, with the top two from each group after three days of round-robin play of fourball competition advancing to the semifinals. Teams get one point for each win and a half for a tied match. There was little drama headed into the final day of pool play, with Australia and Thailand already advancing to the knockout stage in Pool B and Sweden sweeping both matches in Pool A to advance. The US team needed just a half-point or have China fail to sweep England to secure the fourth semifinal spot and got it when Alice Hewson made a birdie on 18 to win her match with Liz Young 1 up over Yu Liu and Ruixin Liu. The Americans had a tough time with Sweden despite Vu delivering the shot of the day when she holed out from the fairway for eagle on the sixth hole, leading to a high-five with her caddie. The US led most of that match before Nordqvist made birdies on the 15th and 17th