Lexus Cup
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The Lexus Cup is an annual golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by a team representing Asia and an international team which was first played in 2005. It is sanctioned by the LPGA Tour, and is the season-ending event. The tournament is named for Lexus, the primary sponsor. It is one many new team golf tournaments founded on the model of the Ryder Cup since that tournament became a star attraction in golf in the 1980s. In women's golf it complements the Solheim Cup, which is contested by the United States and Europe. The choice of teams for the Lexus Cup is a reflection of the strength of women's golf in Asia; the top one hundred of the first ever edition of the Women's World Golf Rankings was published two months after the first Lexus Cup, and it included 53 Asian players.
The inaugural Cup was held from December 9 to December 11 2005, with a total purse of US$960,000 ($50,000 to each member of the winning team and $30,000 to members of the losing team).
In 2005, the two team captains were chosen beforehand and selected the remainder of their teams. Starting in 2006 a qualifying system was used, with each team being comprised of the top 4 players from the Rolex Women's World Ranking, the top 4 remaining players from the ADT Official Money List, two sponsor's picks, and two captain's picks. Thus far, team captains have been Grace Park and Annika Sörenstam respectively (both prominent professional golfers), and have competed in the event.
The tournament is a series of match play matches played over three days, Friday through Sunday, with each golfer playing every day. The Friday has six foursomes matches; Saturday has six four-balls; and 12 singles matches are played on Sunday. This is a format modified from the Presidents Cup. If the scores are tied at the end of the singles matches, the captains compete in a sudden death playoff.
A foursomes match is a competition between two teams of two golfers. The golfers on the same team take alternate shots throughout the match, with the same ball. Each hole is won by the team that completes the hole in the fewest shots. A fourball match is also a competition between two teams of two golfers, but all four golfers play their own ball throughout the round rather than alternating shots, and each hole is won by the team whose individual golfer has the lowest score. A singles match is a standard matchplay competition between two golfers.
The international team won in 2005, and the Asian team won a close match in 2006 to even the series.
[edit] Results
| Year | Venue | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Captains | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | (Perth, Australia) | |||||
| 2006 | Tanah Merah Country Club (Singapore) |
Asia | 12½ | 11½ | International |  Grace Park Annika Sörenstam |
| 2005 | Tanah Merah Country Club (Singapore) |
International | 16 | 8 | Asia | Grace Park Annika Sörenstam |
