Lydia Ko showers praises on Charley Hull after Day 1 at the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown

Lydia Ko is currently competing in the 2025 Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown at Goyang-Si, Gyeonggi-do in the Republic of Korea. For this LPGA Tour event, Ko was paired up with Charley Hull.

The Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown added the Team World this year, which comprises players who are not from one of the seven qualifying countries. Since Ko and Hull are both members of this team, they recently faced Team Japan on the opening day. After their match was over, Charley Hull shared a story with Lydia Ko.

There, the golfer from Kettering was spotted hugging her partner. Apart from that, Hull wrote in the caption how much she enjoyed playing with her partner:

"Fun out there today with @lydsko 😊"

Shortly after that, Lydia Ko reposted Hull's Instagram story. In the caption, the golfer credited Hull for keeping up with the difficulties with her performance. Ko wrote:

"@charley.hull kept the team in it! Let's go get it again tomorrow"

Take a look at the Instagram story shared by Ko today:

Screenshot from Ko's Instagram story/ Source: @lydsko

The Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown is a tournament that features a match-play team contest. On Thursday, October 23, Charley Hull and Lydia Ko faced Japan's Miyu Yamashita and Rio Takeda in the four-ball. Takeda and Yamashita went 1UP after a birdie on the opening hole, but Team World caught up after hole 3.

However, Japan reclaimed and widened the lead to a 2UP after winning on par-5 fourth and par-3 sixth. The English pro made sure to trim the margin down to 1UP after she scored a birdie on the twelfth. Lydia Ko and Hull stayed a point down till the concluding hole. Ko ended up draining a 25-footer and claiming a birdie on the eighteenth, which led Team World to finish the match in a tie.

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Charley Hull and Lydia Ko share honest takes on their first round at Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown

Following their tie with Yamashita and Takeda, both members of the World Team shared views on the day. While talking about their four-ball contest, Ko was not ready to take all the credit due to her birdie on the 18th.

Lydia Ko credited Hull for scoring birdies throughout the round (as quoted by the LPGA):

"The only way I thought we were going to extend the match was for me to hole the putt on 17. At both our lengths, it's not a guaranteed birdie putt at all, but I felt like I shouldn't let the team down. Charley holed so many good birdie putts that kept the match going... I just came for the ride for the last two."

Charley Hull did not mind praising Ko for her performance. As the three-time LPGA Tour winner spoke with the media, she revealed how confident she was regarding Ko. Referring to how her partner performed in the practice round, Hull said:

"It was pretty chilled out there... I kind of knew Lydia was going to make the putt on the last because she had an up-and-down challenge on the last hole yesterday, an impossible up-and-down..."

For the second day of the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, Hull and Ko will tee off against the pair of Hye-Jin Choi and Hyoo Joo Kim. On Friday, the World Team duo will start their contest at 11:00 am (local time).