The change to the International Crown will likely allow the LPGA star to compete for the first time

One of the LPGA’s international competitions is adding a new wrinkle – and the change will benefit Lydia Ko, among others.

For the first time in the event’s 11-year history, the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown will feature a world team consisting of top players from non-qualifying countries.

Specifically, the World Team will include the highest-ranked player in the Rolex Rankings who is not otherwise eligible from each of the following regions: Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa/Oceania. That four-man world team will compete against seven other teams of four players representing different countries; these teams will be finalized on June 23, following the KPMG Women’s PGA, while the contestants will be locked in on August 4 following the AIG Women’s Open.

This year’s International Crown will be won from October 23-26 at the New Korea Country Club in Goyang-si, South Korea.

Currently, the countries in a position to qualify are the US, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Australia, Sweden and China, meaning that countries such as England, Germany and France are currently on the outside looking in. With teams needing four players to compete, New Zealand never had the depth to qualify, meaning Ko never competed. That is likely to change now as Ko, France’s Celine Boutier, Canada’s Brooke Henderson and Taiwan’s Peiyun Chien are currently in position to make the world team.

The international crown was last played in 2023, when Thailand won at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. That edition was the first since 2018, as the 2020 competition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.