Australia won the 2025 Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown in the Republic of Korea, beating the United States in the final on Sunday evening at New Korea Country Club.
The Australians clinched the title after Minjee Lee and Hannah Green won both of their singles matches 2 and 1, over Angel Yin and Yealimi Noh, respectively.
The foursomes match between Australians Stephanie Kyriacou and Grace Kim and the American pair of Lilia Vu and Lauren Coughlin was made inconsequential when Green secured victory in the second singles match on the 17th hole.
After finishing runner-up to Thailand in 2023 at TPC Harding Park, it was a sweet victory for Australia indeed – especially for Lee, who was the only player in the field to have played in every International Crown and never been a member of the winning team.
Lee emerged from the week with a superb 4-0-1 record and was voted as the tournament MVP by a committee that included LPGA staff, Hanwha officials and external media.
“I’m really excited that we were able to win all together. I think it’s even sweeter because I could do it with all these girls. Obviously, we all played with a lot of grit, and a lot of perseverance and resilience this week just to get into the final match. I think we did really well,” said Lee.
In the morning semifinals, Australia beat the World Team in a tight battle. After Green lost to Charley Hull and Lee defeated Brooke Henderson, the match came down to the foursomes.
Kyriacou and Kim fought back from two holes down at one stage to edge the World Team duo of Lydia Ko and Wei-Ling Hsu on the 20th hole.
The consolation match for third place, played concurrently with the final, saw the World Team beat Japan 2-1. The Japanese team of Ayaka Furue, Rio Takeda, Mao Saigo and Miyu Yamashita had earlier lost 1-2 to the United States in the semifinals.
The LPGA Tour will now head to Malaysia for the Maybank Championship at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club from October 30-November 2, where China’s Ruoning Yin is the defending champion.
