International Crown Sleeper Team Picks

Before the action starts let’s take a closer look at the 2016 International Crown teams. While the oddsmakers are tipping toward top-seeded Korea, I believe there may be two big surprises lurking in the field of 8 teams.

Six teams in the 2016 UL International Crown field are returnees – Korea, the United States, Thailand, Australia, Japan, and Chinese Taipei. Spain and Sweden, the winner and runner-up respectively of the 2014 Crown, failed to qualify this year. England and China take their places.

The @ULIntlCrown is finally here! Time to pick your country’s hashtag to use this week! #WhoWillReign? pic.twitter.com/scY0hDfNeS

— LPGA (@LPGA) July 18, 2016

#ENG

Don’t underestimate England – they’re my top sleeper pick this year! They may be coming into the Crown ranked 7th in the field of 8, but they will be bringing a deep reservoir of match play experience to the contest. Charley Hull and Melissa Reid have both played twice for Team Europe in the Solheim Cup and Jodi Ewart Shadoff also has a Solheim Cup appearance on her resume. Put aside their individual Rolex Rankings. Their collective Solheim Cup record – 12-9-1 – signals their team strength.

Reid and Ewart Shadoff have played together on the GB&I Curtis Cup team, as have Hull and the 4th member of Team England, Holly Clyburn, who has played twice for GB&I in the Curtis Cup (2010, 2012) and won three of her five matches.

On top of their match play experience and their records of success, Hull and Reid have a score to settle with #TeamUSA. Their Thursday four-ball match will give them a chance to flip the table on the American foursome who recorded the greatest comeback in Solheim Cup history to reclaim that trophy last year.

Clyburn and Ewart Shadoff could be just the right sidekicks for Hull and Reid to make the Americans right-sized again. If they can put two points on the board on Thursday, England will have the psychological advantage in their Friday match with Japan and their Saturday match with Thailand. Keep an eye on the Brits!

#AUS

With Hall of Famer Karrie Webb at the helm of Team Australia, this is not a team that should be underestimated. Webb’s personal record is the most outstanding in a field of 36 outstanding athletes – 76 pro victories across 5 tours, 8 major championship titles, including the 2000 US Women’s Open contended at the Merit Club.

Webb and Minjee Lee, who’s emerging as one of the dominant young stars on the LPGA Tour, were the 2014 Crown’s quintessential power couple. What will they do for an encore? There’s no doubt they’ll do it again this year, and they’ll be joined by Su Oh, who brings a very successful amateur record to her rookie year as a pro, and Rebecca Artis, whose game is strong enough to have defeated the likes of Caroline Hedwall and Suzann Pettersen.

I’m looking for Team #AUS to cruise to victory in their Thursday four-ball matches against Chinese Taipei and their Friday matches against China and go into their Saturday matches against Korea, the top-seeded team in the 2016 field, with considerable momentum.

That Saturday match will be a serious contest, but by then Team #AUS should be in sufficiently strong mental shape to take on the Korean Juggernaut! Keep an eye on the Aussies!

Cover Photo via Twitter