Baltimore: American LPGA stars, hoping to restore their glory in team events, suffered a shocking setback on Saturday, being eliminated before the final stage of the International Crown matches.
The top-seeded Americans, boasting four of the world’s top 12 players, went 3-3 in four-ball matches and lost a play-off to second seed South Korea for the last spot in Sunday’s singles matches on a tiebreaker, when Lexi Thompson only parred the par-5 16th while Cristie Kerr and two Koreans made birdies.
“I never thought we wouldn’t be playing tomorrow [Sunday],” world number one Stacy Lewis said. “It’s just crazy to think we’re two points out of the lead of this thing and we’re not able to play. That’s really what is the most disappointing part.”
The humbling ouster in the inaugural global showdown of eight four-woman teams follows crushing losses to Europe in the past two Solheim Cups.
Europeans edged the US Solheim Cup team 15-13 in 2011 in Ireland, then kept the trophy with a largest-ever 18-10 rout last year, their first win on US soil.
“We’ll take the positives out of it and look forward to other team events in the next few years,” Thompson said.
Asian teams, who lacked a Solheim-like event, proved the Americans’ undoing.
Taiwan swept two matches from the hosts Thursday and the US women could only split with Thailand, sending them into the play-off with the Koreans. And Japan led all nations with eight points but never faced the US women.
“We learned a little bit on Thursday,” Lewis said. “We learned we had to be a little tougher and to support our partners out there. That’s something all of us are going to take into Solheims and this event in the future.”
The second International Crown is set for 2016 at Rich Harvest Farms near Chicago, where the US women last won the Solheim Cup over Europe, in 2009.
Germany’s St. Leon-Rot course will host next year’s 14th Solheim Cup, offering the next chance for US women to end their losing streak.
