WA stars Hannah Green and Minjee Lee played a central role as Australia reached the final of the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown LPGA team match play championship in San Francisco.
Green and Lee teamed up with Sarah Kemp and Steph Kyriacou to represent Australia in the eight-team tournament, which featured two groups of four contesting round-robin fourball match play encounters.
After wins over Korea and Japan, Australia breezed through qualifying and could even afford a defeat at the hands of Thailand in their final group match.
Pitted against a strong Swedish team in the semi-final, Kyriacou and Green coasted to singles wins, while Lee and Kemp combined adroitly to post a 5&3 foursomes victory to send Australia through to the final.
There they faced Thailand once again after the south-east Asians upset top seeds USA 2-1 in their semi, and once again the Thais had the upper hand.
Kyriacou and Green were well beaten in their respective singles matches against Atthaya Thitikul and Patty Tavatanakit, and sisters Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn turned on the style to beat Lee and Kemp 4&3 in final the foursomes match to complete a 3-0 triumph and give the Thais their 11th win from their 12 matches throughout the competition.
Despite coming up short in the final, it was a strong week from the Australian contingent, who each pocketed nearly AU$120,000 for the runner-up finish. The USA beat Sweden 2-1 to take third place.
Full details of the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown can be accessed here.
Hannah and Minjee posse for a selfie at a pre-event visit to the San Francisco giants baseball ground
