International Crown: Audition For A Possible Olympic Format?

I desperately want to see a team event succeed to pave a path for Olympic golf to get a better format in 2020, and while the LPGA's International Crown debuting this week at Caves Valley is promising, on paper it seems just a tad too complicated for the world to fully understand.

Ron Sirak does a great job telling us all we need to know about the event and explains the two-woman team pool play, with the winner ultimately decided by total points on Sunday after singles matches.

The first three days, each country plays two best-ball matches against every other country in its pool. Points accumulate over the three days: Win = 2; Halve = 1; Loss = 0. The top two countries in each pool advance.

Skipping the playoff stuff here because you need a law degree to understand it...

On Sunday, the five countries will be seeded based on their total points from the first three days. If countries are tied, the following tie-breaker will be used:
 
    ◦    Total points earned in head-to-head match-up (if they were in the same pool)
    ◦    Total number of matches won in all six four-ball matches
    ◦    Highest-seeded team entering competition

Each country will play one singles match against every other country for a total of 10 matches. Points carry over to Sunday. The team with most points over the four days wins.

Got that?

Anyway, the LPGA is still to be admired for trying to give us something beyond 72-holes of stroke play, so if you have the chance, tune in.

Golf Channel has over 30 hours to explain the format, with Terry Gannon and Judy Rankin anchoring.

Thursday, July 24        11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. ET (Live)
Friday, July 25            11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. ET (Live)
Saturday, July 26        3-7 p.m. ET (Live)
Sunday, July 27          3-7 p.m. ET (Live)