Led by 2 major champions, host Korea seeded 3rd at LPGA match-play event

This composite photo shows the four Korean representatives at the match-play event. From left: Kim Hyo-joo, Ryu Hae-ran, Ko Jin-young and Choi Hye-jin. Courtesy of the LPGA International Crown organizing committee

The host country Korea will be seeded third at an LPGA match-play event scheduled for October, with a couple of former major champions leading the way.

The LPGA finalized the field of 32 players representing eight nations for the International Crown on Monday (U.S. time). New Korea Country Club in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province, will host the four-day match-play competition from Oct. 23 to 26.

Seven countries — Korea, the United States, Japan, Thailand, Sweden, Australia and China — and the brand-new Team World, made up of one player each from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa and Oceania, will be in action. The lineups were determined based on world rankings as of Monday, following the conclusion of the AIG Women's Open.

The four Korean representatives will be: Kim Hyo-joo (No. 8), Ryu Hae-ran (No. 9), Ko Jin-young (No. 16) and Choi Hye-jin (No. 23).

Kim, Ko and Choi were teammates on the 2023 team that finished tied for fifth, while Ryu has never played at an International Crown.

"I can't wait to represent Korea at this international event," Ryu said. "Since we will be hosting this competition for the first time in a while, we will try to put on a great show in front of our fans and win that trophy back."

The four editions of the International Crown so far have produced four different champions — Spain in 2014, the U.S. in 2016, Korea as the host nation in 2018 and Thailand in 2023. The 2020 event was wiped out due to COVID-19.

Ko, former world No. 1, has 15 LPGA titles to her credit, including two majors. Kim is a seven-time tour winner with one major title.

Ryu won the 2023 LPGA Rookie of the Year award and has three victories so far.

Choi has yet to win on the LPGA Tour but she has played well of late, notching five top-10 finishes in her past seven starts.

Teams were seeded according to their four players' ranking positions, which became their teams' "points." The lower the total of the players' combined rankings, the higher their countries were seeded.

With 56 points, Korea will be No. 3 seed. The U.S., featuring world No. 2 Nelly Korda, is the top seed with 42 points. Japan, led by the AGI Women's Open champion Miyu Yamashita (No. 6), is the second seed with 50 points.

Korea is followed by Australia, Thailand, Sweden, Team World and China.

Korda will be joined by Angel Yin (No. 7), Lauren Coughlin (No. 14) and Lilia Vu (No. 19). The Japanese team will also include Rio Takeda (No. 11), Mao Saigo (No. 12) and Ayaka Furue (No. 21).

Competing for Australia will be two major winners of Korean descent, Minjee Lee (No. 4) and Grace Kim (No. 27).

Team World will be led by Lydia Ko, world No. 3 and Korean-born Kiwi, and 13-time tour winner from Canada, Brooke Henderson. With their countries never having qualified previously, this will be their International Crown debuts.

"I'm excited. It's going to be a new one for me. I love team formats and it's kind of out of our comfort zone but I kind of love that," Ko said. "I think it's a great way to get to know my peers at the same time. For it to be in Korea, I think the fans are going to be very excited to see all of us there."

Teams seeded 1, 4, 5 and 8 will be in Pool A, and seeds 2, 3, 6 and 7 will compete in Pool B. After fourball matches from Oct. 23 to 25, the top two teams from each pool will move on to the semifinals scheduled for the morning of Oct. 26, with the two pool winners each playing the runners-up from the opposing pool in two singles matches and one foursome match. The final is set for the afternoon of the same day, taking the same format as the semifinals.