LOS ANGELES – Team England suffered a devastating loss at the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown before a shot was struck.
Both Georgia Hall and Charley Hull withdrew Saturday, leaving officials scrambling to replace them. Ladies European Tour players Alice Hewson and Liz Young were en route from England on Sunday to round out the four-player squad.
Hall, ranked No. 10 in the world, is currently one of the hottest players on the LPGA and Hull, ranked 17th, isn’t far behind. Both players competed in this week’s JM Eagle LA Championship, with Hull taking a share of T-17 and Hall finishing T-44.
Former Solheim Cup players Jodi Ewart Shadoff, No. 45, and Bronte Law, 103, make up the rest of the team.
Eight countries have qualified for the event, which will be staged May 4-7 at San Francisco’s TPC Harding Park. This marks the first staging of the Crown since South Korea won on home soil in 2018.
Hall told Golfweek that she’s been struggling with her left foot the past several weeks, an injury she sustained from running too much on concrete without warming up properly.
“I have a private physio I see every day,” said Hall. “I’ve been getting treatment on it every day, and he advised I need to rest it before it gets any worse.”
Hall said she plans to compete in the Cognizant Founders Cup in New Jersey the week after the Crown.
Hull, who was in a hurry to catch a flight after her round, said she hasn’t been feeling well for several weeks and planned to go home to see a doctor. She plans to return to the tour in three to four weeks.
“I wish the others good luck, and sorry I couldn’t be there,” said Hull, who has twice represented England at the Crown. In 2016, Mel Reid famously played one round solo after Hull pulled out sick.
Substitutes Hewson and Young rank 172nd and 216th, respectively. Hewson has five top-20 finishes this season on the LET, including a share of second at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open. Last year, Young won her first LET title in her 14th season on the tour, one month before her 40th birthday.
There are eight teams in this year’s Crown: U.S., South Korea, Japan, Sweden, England, Thailand, Australia and China.
