LPGA adds World Team to International Crown, giving a chance to Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson

Lydia Ko will have the chance to play for a team in 2025. The LPGA announced on Thursday that the 2025 Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown will now feature a World Team, giving players from countries that aren’t otherwise qualified the chance to compete.

The World Team will include the top-ranked player from each of the following four regions, not from a country already qualified: Americas (North America and South America); Europe; Asia; and Africa and Oceania. This World Team will compete alongside teams representing seven countries.

If the World Team was named today, New Zealand’s Ko would be joined by Celine Boutier (France, WWGR No. 9), Brooke Henderson (Canada, WWGR No. 25) and Peiyun Chien Taiwan, WWGR No. 88).

The seven countries that would qualify, based off the current Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, include the U.S., South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Australia, Sweden and China. The list of countries will be finalized June 23 following the KPMG Women’s PGA.

Each team, which consists of the four highest-ranked players from each country, will be finalized following the 2025 AIG Women’s Open.

The 2025 Crown will be held Oct. 23-26 at New Korea Country Club in Goyang-si, South Korea, with a total prize fund of $2 million.

Thailand won the 2023 Crown at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.