In her 10 years as a professional golfer, there are few things Brooke Henderson has never done.
Until this week.
At the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown this week in South Korea, Henderson will be part of the four-person World Team, an inaugural addition to the competition. It marks the first time in her career she’ll be part of an on-course team.
The World squad is made up from the top-ranked golfer from each of the four global regions – North America, Europe, Australasia, and Asia – that don’t already have a team teeing it up – the other seven teams represent countries. Henderson will play with Charley Hull (England), Wei Ling Hsu (Taiwan), and Hall of Famer Lydia Ko (New Zealand).
“I’m super excited. Wei Ling called us the ‘dream team’ the other day and I was like, ‘yeah, it pretty much is,’” Henderson told Sportsnet in an exclusive pre-event conversation. “It’s cool to be on the same team as these three other incredible players and it’s just an amazing opportunity to represent ‘the world.’ How cool is that?”
Henderson’s spot on the squad was in doubt before she broke through for her huge win at the CPKC Women’s Open in August at Mississaugua Golf and Country Club.
The American side (Angel Yin, Lauren Coughlin, Lilia Vu, and Yealimi Noh – a last-minute replacement for world No. 2 Nelly Korda, who is injured) is the No. 1-ranked team.
Thailand (Chanettee Wannasaen, Pajaree Anannarukarn, Jasmine Suwannapura, and world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul) is the defending champion.
The event, which begins Thursday, features three days of four-ball competition in Pool play before the top two teams from each Pool advance to the final day. Two semi-finals will be played Sunday morning featuring two singles matches and one foursomes (alternate-shot) match.
The winning semifinalists will compete in the final Sunday afternoon.
The World team, featuring Henderson, is in Pool B alongside Japan, Sweden, and South Korea.
“I’ve been looking forward to this week all year. I’m so grateful to be on the World team – I love all my players on the team. Great people. Great players. We get along really well. I’m just really excited to tee it up,” Henderson said. “I’m looking forward to it because it is so unique. It’s very different than our traditional weeks on tour. I’m looking forward to the challenge and just try to make a bunch of birdies.”
Henderson, Hull, and Ko are all winners on the LPGA Tour this season while Hsu is a 10-year veteran and has three top-10s so far in 2025.
“This is my 12th year on Tour and I'm a rookie in the International Crown. There's not a lot of things that are very new to me,” Ko said, “but ever since they announced that there would be a world team, I really wanted to be a part of it.”
Henderson has represented Canada at the last three Olympics but there is no team portion to the golf competition at the Games. She has also played alongside Corey Conners at the LPGA-PGA Tour team event, the Grant Thornton Invitational, the last two years (and will again in 2025) while playing with Lexi Thompson, In Gee Chun, and Alena Sharp at the DOW Invitational – the LPGA Tour’s two-person team event.
But this week is especially unique.
Henderson is set to play with Hsu for the opening-day matches.
“Some past knowledge of having a partner and having someone you can bounce ideas off of and lean on – I have that to think back on. Being match play this week you’re going to have to be very good yourself and try to help your partner as much as you can,” Henderson said. “Hopefully the two of us (can) make some birdies and par saves when we need to and get the job done.”
Henderson comes into the week off a tie for 19th at the BMW Ladies Championship – her 10th top-25 finish of the season. It remains a bit of a strange year for Henderson as her win in Canada remains her only stroke-play top-10 result of 2025. She has just a couple of events left in her year, but the win guaranteed her a spot in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, where only the top 60 in the Race to CME Globe standings play for a chance to win the biggest prize in women’s golf.
Henderson believed her win at the CPKC Women’s Open was a “huge confidence boost.” She felt like her game at the BMW Ladies Championship was in a “really good” spot – Henderson’s ball-striking has turned a corner through the second half of 2025, for example, as she missed just seven greens in regulation for the entirety of last week’s event. Although she didn’t make the weekend charge she was hoping for, she feels like there’s momentum to finish the year strong.
That final sprint begins this week with a unique opportunity to represent the world on a worldly stage.
“The LPGA Tour is such a global tour so to be one of the four players representing that is really cool,” Henderson said. “I’m hoping we can do some damage this week.”
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