Hsu Wei-ling to make LPGA International Crown debut

Taipei, Aug. 5 (CNA) Taiwanese golfer Hsu Wei-ling (徐薇淩) has secured a spot in the 2025 International Crown, organized by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), following a recent rise in her world ranking.

Hsu climbed to No. 83 in the world after finishing tied for sixth at the AIG Women's British Open, surpassing Singapore's Shannon Tan (陳暄尹) to earn a place on the World Team for her maiden appearance in the biennial country-based team competition.

The LPGA revised the tournament's format in January from eight national teams to seven national teams plus a World Team to include outstanding players from countries with fewer top-ranked golfers.

The World Team comprises top players from four regions -- Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Africa & Oceania -- but not from the seven already qualified nations.

The final lineup of individual players was based on the world rankings updated after the British Open, which concluded on Sunday.

Hsu will join New Zealand's Lydia Ko (No. 3), England's Charley Hull (No. 10), and Canada's Brooke Henderson (No. 54) on the World Team.

Ko, a 23-time LPGA winner, had never previously competed in the International Crown and is arguably the biggest beneficiary of the new rules.

Hsu, 30, told CNA she was honored to join the competition as an Asian representative on the World Team. "All the other teams are national teams, so it still feels a bit different," she said.

The World Team will face off against the United States, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Sweden, Australia and China, whose spots were determined by combined world rankings following the 2025 KPMG Women's PGA Championship in June.

The 2025 edition -- the fifth in the tournament's history -- is scheduled for Oct. 23-26 in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

A team representing Taiwan competed in the tournament's first three editions from 2014 to 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a moratorium in 2020. The competition resumed in 2023.