Such is the case with the first round of the International Crown. While obviously I'm a fan of the American team, I can't help but be shocked that the Chinese Taipei team is getting so little attention after they kicked our asses all over the Caves Valley Golf Club course. We were the favorites; don't they get ANY credit for shutting us out?
Just look at Yani Tseng's face in the photo below. When was the last time you saw Yani look this involved with the game?
In a way I'm not surprised that the American team stumbled coming out of the gate. As the unqualified favorites, and coming off that embarrassing loss at the Solheim Cup last year, is it any surprise that 4 players normally labeled as "grinders" played as if they had the entire USA on their shoulders? And it's probably no surprise that they're the only team to change their pairings for today's round.
By comparison, Yani and Friends were the lowest-ranked team and, quite frankly, weren't given enough credit for having qualified for the event. Despite the supposed advantage that Solheim Cup experience gave the US and Euro teams, only 3 such teams qualified -- the US, Sweden, and Spain. And of those teams, only Spain really stepped up.
And they were the 5th ranked team. We may have our hands full today.
It certainly appears that the lack of experience was overrated. Japan came in 2nd with 3 points (I know the Constructivist was thrilled about that) and are in a great position to make the Sunday rounds. Remember, points from the first 3 days carry over to the final day so these upsets are a big deal!
You can read some of the after-round interviews on this page at LPGA.com. They talked to a large number of the players. In the meantime, here are the pairings for today's play from LPGA.com:
If for some reason they aren't showing up, you can see them on this page.
The USA is playing Spain today. Unless they can stop grinding and start having some fun, I'm afraid the USA is going to be on the outside looking in.
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