The LPGA Tour's unique team event, the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, will return in 2025 and be played at New Korea Country Club in South Korea.
The event, where teams of four players from eight countries battle it out over four days for supremacy, will be played Oct. 23-26. New Korea Country Club, which opened in 1966, is located just 30 minutes from central Seoul.
The Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown will have a purse of $2 million, including $500,000 for the winning team ($125,000 for each member).
The four-day event will have a format with two unique phases. The first three rounds will feature four-ball match play, with teams divided into groups that play against each other in a round-robin format.
For the final round, the top teams from each groups will advance into a single round of cross-team match-play that will combine singles and foursomes matches to determine the champion. Participating countries and players will be selected based on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, with the cutoff date to determine the field still to be announced.
“We are incredibly grateful to Hanwha Lifeplus for their support of the LPGA and the International Crown, and we're thrilled to bring this prestigious event back to the Republic of Korea at New Korea Country Club,” said Ricki Lasky, Chief Tour Business and Operations Officer for the LPGA.
“Korean fans are some of the most passionate and dedicated in the world, and their energy will undoubtedly create an unforgettable atmosphere for the athletes and spectators alike. The International Crown exemplifies the unique spirit of team golf, where national pride and camaraderie take center stage, and we can't wait for an exciting week of fierce competition and celebration of the global nature of the women’s game."
The International Crown was first staged in 2014 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland and was won by the Spanish team (Carlota Ciganda, Belen Mozo, Azahara Munoz and Beatriz Recari). In 2016 at Merit Club in Illinois, the United States team (Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis, Gerina Mendoza and Lexi Thompson) won.
The 2018 International Crown was the first version of the event played outside of the United States, at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon, South Korea. The Korean team (In Gee Chun, In Kyung Kim, Sung Hyun Park and So Yeon Ryu) won on home soil. The event, which is to be played every other year, was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament returned in 2023 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, Calif., with the Thailand team (Ariya Jutanugarn, Moriya Jutanugarn, Patty Tavatanakit and Jeeno Thitikul) winning.
