Photo courtesy of Tristan Jones Photography

The LPGA of Korea and defending champions The LPGA of Japan will battle it out tomorrow in the Championship Match at The Queens presented by Kowa. The two teams finished 1st and 2nd in the match-play pool after the first two days of competition, while the Ladies European Tour and the ALPG finished 3rd and 4th respectively and will battle it out tomorrow for third place.

The hosts Japan had made the perfect start on day one winning all four of its foursomes matches, but it was the stars of the Korean LPGA tour who came out with a point to prove today. They got off to the perfect start this morning with team captain Jiyai Shin combining beautifully with Min Sun Kim to defeat the Japanese pair of Shiho Oyama and Ai Suzuki by the margin of 4&2.  The second KLPGA pairing of Jeongmin Cho and Jin Young Ko then defeated the LET duo of Becky Morgan and Nuria Iturrios 2&1, and when Hee Won Jung and Seon Woo Bae defeated Stacey Keating and Cathryn Bristow 3&2 in a match of the highest quality, the Korean team had secured their place in tomorrow`s Championship Final. 

KLPGA Captain, Jiyai Shin, said: “I’m very proud of my team today and they all had great condition and enjoyed the nice weather. They played so good so we are very happy at the moment. When I finished, I followed a few holes and saw all the other teams played well, so it was very impressive. It was great for the gallery because I saw a lot of birdies.”

The Korean team will prepare for tomorrow`s final by eating together at a Japanese restaurant in Nagoya “In Korea, before a big game, we eat a lot of eel and this area is famous for it so we booked a restaurant for tonight,” she said, “because we say it gives you a lot of energy.”

The JLPGA Captain, Ritsuko Ryu was happy with her team`s performance even though they only won three out of a possible eight points “The Korean players were fantastic and we know that they are a group of brilliant players and we were expecting them to finish well today. We played some good golf, good team work with all of our players today. We would like to refresh our minds and do our best for tomorrow.”

ALPG Team Captain Rachel Hetherington remained upbeat on a day which saw her team win their first point of the week when Su Oh and Whitney Hillier defeated the LET Scandinavian duo of Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Linda Wessberg 2&1 \"We have some great momentum going into the tomorrow`s matches with Whitney and Su winning that last point today. We are very excited to play LET, we know that they have some great players but we will just go out and play to get as many points as we can tomorrow and try to improve on last year\"

Sunday`s Championship Round will begin at 8:00am.

Friday Foursomes Results

Match 1

Ritsuko Ryu and Kotone Hori (JLPGA) defeated Florentyna Parker and Georgia Hall (LET) 2 & 1

Match 2

Min Sun Kim and Su Yeon Jang (KLPGA) defeated Whitney Hillier and Rachel Hetherington (ALPG) 2 & 1

Match 3

Catriona Matthew and Nanna Koerstz Madsen (LET) defeated Sarah Kemp and Stacey Keating (ALPG) 2 & 1

Match 4

Shiho Oyama and Ai Suzuki (JLPGA) defeated Jin-Young Ko and Jiyai Shin (KLPGA) 1 up

Match 5

Yukari Nishiyama and Megumi Shimokawa (JLPGA) defeated Katherine Kirk and Lauren Hibbert (ALPG) 2 up

Match 6

Nuria Iturrios and Isabelle Boineau (LET) defeated Hee Won Jung and Seon Woo Bae (KLPGA) 2 &1

Match 7

Erika Kikuchi and Ayaka Watanabe (JLPGA) defeated Linda Wessberg and Becky Morgan (LET) 1 up

Match 8

Hae Rym Kim and Seung Hyun Lee (KLPGA) defeated Su-Hyun Oh and Sarah Jane Smith (ALPG) 4 & 3

Day 2 - Saturday Fourball Results

Match 1

8.30am  Catriona Matthew and Georgia Hall (LET) defeated Katherine Kirk and Lauren Hibbert (ALPG) 6 & 4

Match 2

8.42am Jiyai Shin and Min Sun Kim (KLPGA) defeated Shiho Oyama and Ai Suzuki (JLPGA) 4 & 2

Match 3

8.54am Ritsuko Ryu and Megumi Shimokawa (JLPGA) defeated Sarah Jane Smith and Sarah Kemp (ALPG) 4&3

Match 4

9.06am  Jeongmin Cho and Jin-Young Ko (LPGA) defeated Becky Morgan and Nuria Iturrios (LET) 2 & 1

Match 5

9.18am Yumiko Yoshida and Kotone Hori (JLPGA) versus Florentyna Parker and Isabelle Boineau (LET) All Square

Match 6

9.30am Hee Won Jung and Seon Woo Bae (KLPGA) defeated Stacey Keating and Cathryn Bristow (ALPG) 3 & 2

Match 7

9.42am Su-Hyun Oh and Whitney Hillier (ALPG) defeated Linda Wessberg and Nanna Koerstz Madsen (LET) 2 & 1

Match 8

9.54am Su Yeon Jang and Seung Hyun Lee (KLPGA) defeated Erika Kikuchi and Ayaka Watanabe (JLPGA) 3 & 2

Day 3 -Sunday Singles Draw

Third Place Final between LET and ALPG

Match 1

8:00     Georgia Hall versus Katherine Kirk

Match 2

8:08     Catriona Matthew versus Rachel Hetherington

Match 3

8:16     Nuria Iturrios versus Sarah Jane Smith

Match 4

8:24     Isabelle Boineau versus Cathryn Bristow

Match 5

8:32     Nanna Koerstz Madsen versus Su-Hyun Oh

Match 6

8:40     Florentyna Parker versus Sarah Kemp

Match 7

8:48     Becky Morgan versus Whitney Hillier

Match 8

8:56     Linda Wessberg versus Stacey Keating

Championship Final between KLPGA and LPGA of Japan

Match 1

9:10     Jiyai Shin versus Shiho Oyama

Match 2

9:18     Min Sun Kim versus Ai Suzuki

Match 3

9:26     Su Yeon Jang versus Ritsuko Ryu

Match 4

9:34     Hae Rym Kim versus Megumi Shimokawa

Match 5

9:42     Jin-Young Ko versus Erika Kikuchi

Match 6

9:50     Jeongmin Cho versus Yukari Nishiyama

Match 7

9:58     Seon Woo Bae versus Ayaka Watanabe

Match 8

10:06   Seung Hyun Lee versus Kotone Hori

Cumulative Scores:

(2 points for a win, 1 point for a halved match)

JLPGA: 11

LET: 7

KLPGA: 12

ALPG: 2

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