ABOUT THE EVENT

FORMAT

South Korea, Australia, Taiwan and China make up Pool A at the UL International Crown. The USA, Japan, Thailand and England constitute Pool B.

All four team members play two best- ball matches against a different team in their pool the first three days. A win counts for two points; a halved match, one. The top two countries from each pool automatically advance. Third- place countries in each pool meet in a two- player, best- ball playoff immediately after Saturday’s matches, with the winner advancing as the fifth and final country to Sunday’s singles.

Each country will play one singles match against every other country with the same point value in place. The team with the most points earned over four days will be crowned the winner. In case of a tie, each playoff team picks a player for a hole- by- hole, sudden- death singles match.

THE FAVORITE

With its four players in the top 12 in the world rankings, South Korea is the top seed. Sei Young Kim is the field’s top- ranked player at No. 5, joined by Amy Yang, In Gee Chun and So Yeon Ryu.

The USA comes in at No. 2, with more LPGA tour titles ( 36 to South Korea’s 11) and three of its four players — Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis and Cristie Kerr — having played in the 2014 event. Gerina Piller, who has 30 top- 10 LPGA tour finishes but is seeking her first win, is the only first- timer.

No. 3 Japan has the secondyoungest squad and No. 4 Australia the most LPGA tour titles with 43 — all but two of them belonging to Karrie Webb.

TV ( ET) Thursday- Friday: noon- 4 p. m., Golf Channel Saturday: 3- 7 p. m., Golf Channel Sunday: noon- 2 p. m., NBC; 2- 6 p. m., Golf Channel