No. 1 – The Republic of Korea
My pick for the 2025 International Crown is the host team, The Republic of Korea.
As a unit, this is the team that inspires the most confidence in all four players, top-to-bottom. There isn’t a player I don’t think will play well.
Starting with the superstar of the team, Jin Young Ko. Though Ko hasn’t played her best golf over the last couple years, she’s still one of the most proven winners in LPGA Tour history. She is a 15-time winner with two majors and two Player of the Year awards. In almost any other league, she would be a no-brainer hall of famer. To put into context how good this roster is from Korea, she may be the player here I have the least confidence in.
One of the first articles on this site was about how Hyo Joo Kim is the most underrated player on the tour. That continues this year in her massive bounce back from a down season in 2024. Kim has a win and three runner-up finishes in 2025 on the LPGA Tour, plus a win on the LET against a strong field in her home country. She comes in with fantastic form as well, finishing top-10 the last two events she has played in.
Haeran Ryu, despite a win in Utah, isn’t necessarily playing to the immense standards she set for herself in 2024, but she has as much pure talent as anyone on the LPGA Tour. Ryu does still have three top-10 finishes and despite inconsistency, has had some good recent results, most notably a seventh place finish in Portland. Ryu should fit this format well as probably the best birdie maker on this team.
Finally, Hye Jin Choi, probably the best player on the LPGA Tour without a win, rounds out this team. Choi is ridiculously consistent, having made 19/21 cuts with eight top-10 finishes in 2025. In the middle of the season, Choi finished top four three weeks in a row, and had a near victory at the Meijer LPGA Classic, plus she was the player who looked to be in the best position to beat Minjee Lee at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship for much of the weekend.
This Korean team will not beat itself and will force its opponents to make good scores consistently to win matches. This is a team to have a whole lot of confidence in.
