Asia’s J-Ro, pal force draw with International team

The Philippines’ Jennifer Rosales teamed up with Korea’s Candie Kung as they halved a point with Australian Nikki Campbell and American Sherri Steinhauer on a final-hole birdie, closing a 3-3 standoff between Team Asia and Team International in the opening round of the 2006 Lexus Cup at Tanah Merah Country Club’s Garden Course in Singapore yesterday.

"We want to win and are ready for more hard work tomorrow," said Rosales after helping Team Asia fight Team International to the 3-3 tie in the first round played under the best-ball foursomes format.

The Young Kim-Seon Hwa Lee and Jee Young Lee-Meena Lee pairs delivered full points for the Asians while the Julieta Granada-Morgan Pressel and Anika Sorenstam-Carin Koch tandems scored a one point each for the International squad.

Kim and Lee routed Laura Davies and Brittany Lincicome, 6 & 5, while Jee Young Lee and Meen Lee topped Paula Creamer and Nathalie Gulbis, 2 up.

Granada and Pressel demolished Hee Won Han and Se Ri Pak, 4 & 3 while Koch and Sorenstam whipped Joo Min Kim and Sakura Yokomine, 3 & 2.

The other pairing pitting Shi Yun Ahn and Park versus Angela Standford and Stacy Prammanasudh ended in a draw.

The protagonists, the cream of the LPGA Tour, compete in four-ball matches today then figure in singles matches in the final day tomorrow.

The team which accumulates at least 12.5 points wins the event which was first played last year with the International squad beating Asia. Of the $960,000 purse, members of the winning team will receive $50,000 each while the losers get $30,000.

In case of a tie on overall points tomorrow, team captains Sorenstam and Park play a sudden-death playoff.

"I think our chances this year are great. Our players are very talented, obviously highly ranked in the golf rankings and they’ve accomplished a lot so they are all winners. We’ll definitely be giving the International Team more challenge this year," said Park.

A perfect chip shot on the 18th paved the way for the crucial birdie for Rosales-Kung, making it 3-3 for the two teams in the day.

"I briefly saw it on TV and I was a little bit worried. But what a chip shot, I went out and started jumping and screaming," said Park.

"It was a tough game but a lot of fun. We played really well together and had some great shots," said Kung on his partnership with Rosales.

The Rosales-Kung pair went one-up with a birdie on No. 4 but fell one-down after a bogey on No. 5 and double-bogey on the succeeding hole.

They drew level on No. 7 but again saw them on the trail, facing tremendous pressure after going two down on the 11th.

But the Asians never gave up, salvaging the draw on a late charge highlighted by the final-hole birdie.