No Nelly, No Problem: Team USA's International Crown Performance Poses Well For 2026 Solheim Cup

No Nelly? Noh problem. The American team who had a last minute switch adding Yealimi Noh to its International Crown line up, looked pretty damn good despite missing its top-ranked player.

The foursome of Noh (who replaced Korda), Angel Yin, Lilia Vu, and Lauren Coughlin cruised their way through four-ball matches at the International Crown in Korea—a great sign for American Solheim Cup captain Angela Stanford as we inch closer to Amsterdam.

Related: LPGA Solheim Cup Captains Were at Bethpage Taking Notes

The team chemistry was apparent at New Korea Country Club as the top-seed in the global competition looked red hot through the first three days.

They were the only team to sweep their matches in pool play.

In this particular team competition there are no captains involved, just players and their caddies, so ultimately the pairs in which they play with and who they send out when is decided by the athletes themselves. The duos consisted of Noh/Yin and Vu/Coughlin—and you could tell just how much they vibed.

Vu, who was on the American team in 2023 said that this time around she just enjoyed it more. "I'm having a little more fun this year. I think the weather is nicer. I'm not as cold as I was at TPC Harding. It's just nice to see the fans on the first hole and just all have a good time."

The former world No. 1 continued to say, "I think we're so comfortable with each other, like from Monday night, we just like went to dinner together, kind of shared some stuff, and then had a good time, some team bonding. Ice tea, share tea."

If I'm captain Stanford, I'm loving this energy (and making a note to bring tea to the Netherlands).

Sure, there's a lot of time and golf to be played between now and the Solheim cup in September of 2026, but this is exactly what you want to see from potential players, whether if they automatically qualify or will be captain's picks.

Both Coughlin and Vu have struggled on Tour this year, but together they looked like a really solid pair—even bringing out 2024 Solheim Cup celebrations into the fold this week.

Vu was the one to re-claim the Cup for the Americans last September.

Noh and Yin, who both claimed early titles in 2025, were putting lights out and forced their Australian opponents to earn every hole. Ultimately they came up short, but this was a loss that the Americans can certainly learn from and use moving into a Solheim Cup year.

I liked what I saw and I like it a lot. And if these four players are on the team together, I think it's a no brainer to run these duos back.

As well as the Americans played, it was the Aussies who came out on top—who were my dark horse pick to win the crown.

Photo courtesy of the LPGA/Getty.

Having two major winners in this line in Minjee Lee and Grace Kim, combined with veteran players in Steph Kyriacou and Hannah Green is nothing to sneeze at, and they proved it.

Green only delivered a point for her team, but it was the most important one. She sank a birdie putt on the penultimate hole to defeat Noh just moments after Lee closed out Yin.

As the only player to have competed in all five editions of this competition, this was Minjee's time. She walked away as the tournament's formal MVP with a 4-0-1 record for the week, and her first International Crown win after coming up short to Thailand two years ago.

"I'm really excited that we were able to win all together. I think it's even sweeter because I could do it with all of these girls," Lee said after the team win. "Yeah, obviously we all played with a lot of grit and a lot of perseverance and resilience this week just to get into the final match. I think we all did really well."

More Takeaways From the 2025 International crown

All the entertaining team play aside, there were a few other crucial moments I'd be remiss to not mention.

Maja Stark, the 2025 U.S. Women's Open champion opened up about her performance after claiming the biggest title of her career. It echoed eerily similar to words spoken by Masters champion Rory McIlroy, and the struggles one faces after achieving a life long dream.

"Honestly, it was a little bit of a struggle afterwards because it's something that I'd been looking forward to for so long, thinking about it for so long, and the U.S. Open is my favorite one," shared Stark ahead of the competition in Korea.

Since her coveted win, Stark has only made four cuts since the summer.

"I had a lot of comfort afterwards, but it's probably been too comfortable because I've thought you have your Tour card for five years, and I reached the goal that I wanted to reach, which is just win the U.S. Open. So it was a bit of a struggle for me, and I feel like it took a few months to really come back and gain the motivation back that I felt before in my career. So yeah, it was really hard this summer, actually."

The 25-year-old from Sweden has two career titles on the LPGA and has been a member of two Solheim Cup teams and two International Crown teams. She's accomplished quite a lot in her young career, and I really admired how willing she was to speak on the mental struggles of what comes after success.

Always having to move the goal post can be exhausting and I don't think it's something we discuss enough in sports especially.

"I've been talking to my sports psychologist a lot, and I think it was just time, really," Stark said. "It feels like you kind of come down from—well, my high wasn't very high, but you come down from people wanting to talk about it all the time, and you have to just keep thinking back to this week, and it feels like I wasn't living in that week anymore."

I had to move on and I was like, okay, but now we're doing this, we set up some new goals for the rest of the season, and I just got that mental help that I needed."

In this same presser where Stark opened up, she sat near Lydia Ko, another young talent we've all grown up with who also knows a thing or two about the highs and lows of being a champion.

Ko is a 23-time LPGA winner. She's already claimed her spot in the Hall of Fame. She's won all three Olympic medals (gold, silver, and bronze). And she's done this all before turning 30.

The only thing she hasn't done yet? Compete in team match play.

Arguably the best golfer of her generation, and she's never been able to play in an event like the Solheim Cup or International Crown, until now.

The introduction of Team World at this year's Crown was probably the best decision they could have made. It brought in a whole new element, while also righting a wrong. It feels truly unbelievable that we hadn't seen her in this type of format before and she didn't disappoint.

The pairing of Ko and Charley Hull is something I didn't even know I needed. It's the two of the very best and brightest on the LPGA teaming up like the Avengers and it was fucking awesome.