Meet The Teams Competing in The 2025 International Crown

With the 2025 LPGA season coming down to the wire, the International Crown takes center stage this week as the only team match play event on the schedule this year. The last time the biennial event was contested in 2023, it shared a year with the Solheim Cup and if I'm being honest...it flew under the radar.

While Solheim follows the same recipe as the Ryder Cup, the International Crown plays a lot more like a FIFA World Cup than the Presidents Cup—it's not just two teams going head-to-head but multiple teams playing in stages to knockout rounds. It's a true global showcase of women's golf and the playing field couldn't be more level.

In case you haven't heard, the LPGA Tour has a record 27 different winners in 2025, and 16 of those winners are competing this week at New Korea Country Club. This can be anyone's ball game.

The fifth edition of the eight-team, 32-player event begins this Thursday (if you're in the States, Wednesday) and will be contested over four days. Thailand is the defending champion, and with world No.1 Jeeno Thitikul fresh off a win two weeks ago, they may be the team to beat yet again.

Meet the Teams

How countries and player representatives for each country were decided was a pretty straightforward process. The participating countries were determined upon the conclusion of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June, but the members of each team were finalized using the Rolex Rankings a couple months later after the AIG Women's Open.

Let's meet the teams in order of seeding (team seeds divided into two pools based on the cumulative team ranking of the four players’ Rolex Rankings):

No. 1 United States - Angel Yin, Lauren Coughlin, Lilia Vu, Yealimi Noh (replaced Nelly Korda who withdrew)

Both Yin and Noh are winners this season, meanwhile Coughlin and Vu have struggled a bit. But despite recent yips, all four players have competed on Solheim Cup teams and are fairly familiar with the dynamics of team golf.

It is important to note that there are no captains in the International Crown, players use their own discretion and strategy to decide who will play with who and when.

Noh is coming in as the latest addition to the team after top-ranked American Nelly Korda withdrew due to an undisclosed injury.

Related: Why Nelly Korda Won't be Playing in the International Crown

No. 2 Japan - Miyu Yamashita, Rio Takeda, Mao Saigo, Ayaka Furue

This is the team to beat IMO. You have a pair of lights out rookies in Yamashita and Takeda who are in the hunt for Rookie of the Year. Both Yamashita and Saigo are major winners this year. And you have the more tenured Ayaka Furue who is also a major winner and has one International Crown under her belt.

Also, y'all know how I feel about Japanese women's golf—they are unbeatable on paper.

Related: We Seriously Need to Talk About Women's Golf in Japan.

No. 3 Republic of Korea - Hyo Joo Kim, Haeran Ryu, Jin Young Ko, Hye-Jin Choi

Another squad that has multiple winners in Hyo Joo Kim and Haeran Ryu, along with a former world No.1 in Jin Young Ko—don't count out the home team.

No. 4 Australia - Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Grace Kim, Steph Kyriacou

This is my dark horse team. The major winning duo in Minjee Lee and Grace Kim is hard to ignore, especially when Lee has been playing extremely well this entire season. She's also the only player who has competed in all five playings of the event.

No. 5 Thailand - Jeeno Thitikul, Chanettee Wannasaen, Pajaree Annanarukarn (replaced Patty Tavatanakit who withdrew), Jasmine Suwannapura (replaced Ariya Jutanugarn who withdrew)

This was my team to beat once teams were finalized. The defending champions were going to have three out of four players returning before injuries got the best of them, but when you have Jeeno Thitikul you're never really out of it are you?

No. 6 Sweden - Maja Stark, Madelene Sagstrom, Ingrid Lindblad, Linn Grant

Three out of four have won in 2025 including major winner Maja Stark. Since her USWO win, the young Swede has struggled a bit, but she's coming off a top-25 finish at the BMW Ladies Championship.

No. 7 World Team - Brooke Henderson, Charley Hull, Wei-Ling Hsu, Lydia Ko

Team World is a new addition to this year's format so I'm excited to see how this will play. These players represent countries not already represented in the tournament. With Hull and Henderson winning in the second half of the season, I like this team's odds at making a good run.

Related: Lydia Ko, Charley Hull Headlining a new "Team World"

No. 8 People’s Republic of China - Ruoning Yin, Weiwei Zhang, Yan Liu, Ruixin Liu

Headlined by world No. 7 Ruoning Yin, this team will need to get off on a hot start.

The Format

The teams will compete over four days, beginning with four-ball pool play on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The two countries who earned the most points over the course of the first three days of the competition from Pool A and Pool B will advance to Sunday.

On Sunday morning, two semifinal matches, consisting of two singles matches and one foursomes match, will be played between the top point-earner from Pool A and the second-place country from Pool B, as well as the second-place country from Pool A and the top point-earner from Pool B. The first country to win two points will be deemed the winner of their match.

Each of the countries who win their semifinals match in the morning will face each other in the finals on Sunday. The two losing countries from the semifinals matches will square off in a third-place match that will also be held Sunday afternoon.

Pool A – No. 1 United States, No. 4 Australia, No. 5 Thailand, No. 8 People’s Republic of China

Pool B – No. 2 Japan, No. 3 Republic of Korea, No. 6 Sweden, No. 7 World Team

How Scoring Works

One point will be awarded for a win, a half point for a tie and zero points for a loss. All points from the four-ball matches on Thursday-Saturday will be cumulative and will determine the top two countries advancing from each pool.

On Sunday, the first country to two points will win the head-to-head matchup.

How to Watch/TV Schedule

Wednesday

10 p.m.-3 a.m. ET (Golf Channel)

Thursday

10 p.m.-3 a.m. ET (Golf Channel)

Friday

10 p.m.-3 a.m. ET (Golf Channel)

Saturday

7:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)

Sunday

Midnight-4 a.m. ET (Golf Channel)