[PHOTO: Orlando Ramirez]
The LPGA released tweaks to the respective rosters for the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown and there was one glaring omission: world No.2 Nelly Korda’s name was no longer on the list of four players participating for the US later this month at New Korea Country Club in Korea.
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Korda has withdrawn from the biennial event because of injury, according to the LPGA. She will be replaced by Yealimi Noh, who is playing with Angel Yin, Lauren Coughlin and Lilia Vu for the Americans. Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit also withdrew and will be replaced by Pajaree Anannarukarn.
Australia’s side will be seeded fourth and include our four highest-ranked players: major winners from 2025 Minjee Lee and Grace Kim, plus Hannah Green and Steph Kyriacou.
Injuries have plagued Korda some over the past couple of seasons. In the middle of last season she was bitten by a dog and needed time to recover. She missed more time last October when she admitted that she was battling migraines and neck spasms. Similar neck spasms came again this year when she was hitting out of rough at Fields Ranch East during a practice round for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
On Saturday, Korda shot a final-round 69 at the Lotte Championship in Hawaii to tie for fourth place, three shots behind Youmin Hwang. She did not say anything about the injury that was keeping her from playing the International Crown but did speak about physical fatigue.
“I would say by this time of the year my body is definitely worn down,” she told reporters. “I do have some injuries I’ve had in the past that kind of linger that are never really fully resolved, that you still do PT on every single day, you do therapy. So making sure you’re 100 percent with your body or as 100 percent as you can be is always the end goal going into kind of the first day of the event.”
Korda won seven events on tour last year, including her second major title. So far this year she has not won a tournament in 18 starts and lost her No.1 ranking to Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul.
The International Crown will be played from October 23-26. Country seeds were set on August 4 with the US being ranked first, followed by Japan, Korea, Australia, Thailand, Sweden, World team, China. The world team is made up of the best four players from teams not otherwise qualified. Brooke Henderson (Canada), Charley Hull (England), Wei-Ling Hsu (Taiwan) and Lydia Ko (New Zealand) form that squad.
The format features three days of four-ball play. The top two from each pool will advance to play in semi-final matches that have two singles matches and one foursomes match. The two winning semi-final teams will play for the championship. Australia finished runner-up to Thailand two years ago in San Francisco.
