There is still everything to play for ahead of Sunday’s singles after play was suspended in fading light in the UL International Crown at the Jack Nicklaus GC in Incheon. The top two in each pool qualify automatically and there is a play-off for the fifth singles spot leaving England and Sweden still in with a great chance of getting through.

On a day of driving rain and gusty winds, round 2 was completed before players were called in off the course in the third round following the imminent arrival of Typhoon Kong-Rey (now downgraded to a tropical storm) and predicted torrential rain and high winds.

Stacey Collins, senior Vice President of Tour Operations at the LPGA, will make the decision at 10.30am local time on Saturday as to when play will resume.
Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist summed up conditions when she said after she and Caroline Hedwall thrashed Misuzu Narita and Mamiko High from Japan 6&4 in the morning: “It was miserable at times. It got really cold at the end and really wet. There hasn’t been any roll on the ball all the week so the course is playing long. Definitely a tough track.”

While Pernilla Lindberg and Madelene Sagstrom slumped to a second successive defeat losing 4&3, England’s Georgia Hall and Charley Hull came back from 1 down at the turn to beat Chinese Taipei 3&1 and Bronte Law and Jodi Ewart Shadoff turned in a another impressive display with a convincing 6&4 victory.
Lindberg and Sagstrom bounced back in the afternoon session and are 2 up with five holes to play against Thailand but the Jutanugarn sisters, Moriya and Ariya in their first outing together, are poised to upset the experienced Nordqvist and Hedwall.

Sagstrom admitted the pair had chatted knowing they were better than their previous results indicated. She added: “The biggest thing was that we just needed momentum. We’re both grinders and we’ve got each other’s back, and now we’ve really got each other’s back.”

Stung following their defeat at the hands of Australia in the earlier session the Koreans Sung Hyun Park and IK Kim made a blistering start against Hull and Hall reeling off five successive birdies to go 5 up. They pulled one back at the par-5 7th but have a tough task when play resumes.

“I’m happy it’s over” said Hall. “We played fine and thought pars would be good enough for halves but they holed everything. Conditions were terrible – I was hitting 4-irons as a third shot in to par-5s.”

Jodi Ewart Shadoff was also relieved to call it a day and is 1 up through six alongside Bronte Law against the celebrated Koreans So Yeon Ryu and In Gee Chun.

Ewart Shadoff said: “We’ll need to bring our A game when we restart and keep really solid. I didn’t think we had much momentum and you certainly can’t fall asleep against them. We’re tired after being out all day so it was best we stopped when we did.”

OVERALL POINTS

Pool A
No. 4 England – 7 points

No. 1 Republic of Korea – 6 points

No. 5 Australia – 3 points

No. 8 Chinese Taipei – 0 points

Pool B

No. 2 United States – 6 points

No. 3 Japan – 4 points

No. 6 Thailand – 3 points

No. 7 Sweden – 3 points

SECOND-ROUND RESULTS
Pool B – Japan (JPN) vs. Sweden (SWE)
Anna Nordqvist/Caroline Hedwall (SWE) def. Misuzu Narita/Mamiko Higa (JPN), 6 and 4
Ayako Uehara/Nasa Hataoka (JPN) def. Pernilla Lindberg/Madelene Sagstrom (SWE), 4 and 3
Points – Japan, 2; Sweden, 2

Pool B – United States (USA) vs. Thailand (THA)
Jessica Korda/Michelle Wie (USA) def. Moriya Jutanugarn/Pornanong Phatlum (THA), 6 and 4
Cristie Kerr/Lexi Thompson (USA) def. Ariya Jutanugarn/Sherman Santiwiwattahanaphong (THA), 4 and 3
Points – United States, 4; Thailand, 0

Pool A – England (ENG) vs. Chinese Taipei (TPE)
Charley Hull/Georgia Hall (ENG) def. Wei-Ling Hsu/Teresa Lu (TPE), 2 and 1
Bronte Law/Jodi Ewart Shadoff (ENG) def. Candie Kung/Phoebe Yao (TPE), 6 and 4
Points – England, 4; Chinese Taipei, 0

Pool A – Republic of Korea (KOR) vs. Australia (AUS)
So Yeon Ryu/In Gee Chun (KOR) def. Minjee Lee/Sarah Jane Smith (AUS), 2 and 1
Su Oh/Katherine Kirk (AUS) def. Sung Hyun Park/In-Kyung Kim (KOR), 3 and 2
Points – Republic of Korea, 2; Australia, 2

THIRD-ROUND PARTIAL RESULTS
Pool B – Thailand (THA) vs. Sweden (SWE)
Moriya Jutanugarn/Ariya Jutanugarn (THA) lead Anna Nordqvist/Caroline Hedwall (SWE), 3 up through 14
Pernilla Lindberg/Madelene Sagstrom (SWE) lead Pornanong Phatlum/Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong (THA), 2 up through 13

Pool B – United States (USA) vs. Japan (JPN)
Nasa Hataoka/Ayako Uehara (JPN) lead Jessica Korda/Michelle Wie (USA), 1 up through 12
Cristie Kerr/Lexi Thompson (USA) lead Misuzu Narita/Mamiko Higa (JPN), 1 up through 11

Pool A – Australia (AUS) vs. Chinese Taipei (TPE)
Minjee Lee/Sarah Jane Smith (AUS) lead Candie Kung/Teresa Lu (TPE), 1 up through 10
Su Oh/Katherine Kirk (AUS) lead Wei-Ling Hsu/Phoebe Yao (TPE), 3 up through 9

Pool A – England (ENG) vs. Republic of Korea (KOR)
Sung Hyun Park/In-Kyung Kim (KOR) lead Charley Hull/Georgia Hall (ENG), 4 up through 8
Bronte Law/Jodi Ewart Shadoff (ENG) lead In Gee Chun/So Yeon Ryu, 1 up through 6