The International Crown underwent one major change in 2025 by adding a World Team to the competition. This team takes the highest ranked player from non-qualifying countries, one from the Americas, one from Europe, one from Asia and one from Oceania/Africa. This was done to presumably get some of the biggest stars in the game into the competition. Mission accomplished.
Lydia Ko is the highest ranked player on the team. The hall-of-famer from New Zealand is ranked No. 3 in the world thanks mostly to her incredible 2024 season. In that year, Ko won three times on the LPGA Tour, won the Olympic gold medal and won her third major championship. Ko is the active leader in career wins on the LPGA Tour with 23, including one early this season in Singapore.
Ko hasn’t exactly been in the strongest form as of late though. Ko hasn’t finished in the top 10 in an event since March, and really hasn’t played a particularly full schedule. She also is a bit of a mystery in these formats, as a player who hasn’t competed in this event before or in the Solheim Cup.
Charley Hull seems like the best bet to lead this team in points, thanks to a long and successful career in the Solheim Cup. Hull is 15-9-3 in her Solheim career which dates back to 2013. The Englishwoman has dealt with some health concerns as of late, forcing a withdraw from the Evian Championship. She’s shown no signs of rust or long-term impact though as she had a solid finish at the Scottish Open and a near win at The AIG Women’s Open. That runner-up finish is what got her into this event, vaulting her into the top 10 in the Rolex Rankings. Hull did mysteriously drop out of this event in 2023 while representing England, putting her team in a horrible position, so this could be a chance to redeem herself.
There really is no way to sugarcoat the last year of Brooke Henderson’s career, it has been rough. So rough that she almost fell off this team because of her fall outside the top 50 in the Rolex Rankings. The two-time major champion hasn’t won since January, 2023 and only has one top-10 finish in 2025. Henderson has missed five cuts this season and ranks No. 53 in the CME Standings. Henderson has lost significant distance to the field off the tee, and has struggled mightily with her approach game, which has really exposed her erratic putting.
Finally we have Wei-Ling Hsu, who is certainly not as big of a name as the others on her team, but should still be a solid performer. Hsu is a streaky player, as evidenced by her seven made cuts, but she also has some solid upside as well. Hsu has quietly finished top 12 in four of her 15 starts in 2025 and had a few really nice moments in 2024 that led to three top-10 finishes. For a fourth player on a team, Hsu is a solid piece for this World Team.
The World Team without a doubt has the most pure star power in this competition, and the upside feels very high. That being said, some of these players are just too inconsistent and not in the best form right now. They will compete to make it out of the group round, but I don’t see it making a real challenge for the Crown.
