Change to International Crown will likely allow this LPGA star compete for first time

One of the LPGA’s international competitions is adding a new wrinkle – and the change stands to benefit Lydia Ko, among others.

For the first time in the event’s 11-year history, the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown will feature a world team comprised of top players not from qualifying countries.

Specifically, the world team will include the top-ranked player in the Rolex Rankings not otherwise qualified from each of the following regions: Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa/Oceania. That four-person world team will compete against seven other four-player teams representing different countries; those teams will be finalized on June 23, after the KPMG Women’s PGA, while competing players will be locked Aug. 4 following the AIG Women’s Open.

This year’s International Crown will be contested Oct. 23-26 at New Korea Country Club in Goyang-si, South Korea.

Currently, the countries in position to qualify are the U.S., South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Australia, Sweden and China, meaning such countries as England, Germany and France are, for the moment, on the outside looking in. With teams needing four players to compete, New Zealand has never had the depth to qualify, meaning Ko has never competed. That will likely change now as Ko, France’s Celine Boutier, Canada’s Brooke Henderson and Taiwan’s Peiyun Chien are currently in position to make the world team.

The International Crown was last played in 2023, when Thailand won at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. That edition marked the first since 2018, as the 2020 competition was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.