HANWHA LIFEPLUS INTERNATIONAL CROWN

October 22, 2025

Lydia Ko

Maja Stark

Miyu Yamashita

THE MODERATOR: Here with our final press conference for the day with Miyu Yamashita from Japan, Maja Stark from Sweden, and Lydia Ko from New Zealand representing the world team.

Miyu, we will start with you. The Japan team is very powerful this year. How are you preparing for tomorrow's competition? And Ayaka, has she given the team any advice?

MIYU YAMASHITA: Ayaka has already experienced playing in the International Crown, so she understands the team atmosphere very well and has shared some good advice about teamwork.

The team atmosphere is really positive, and I feel very comfortable going into the week.

THE MODERATOR: Maja, the Swedes, you guys look like you have a lot of fun together. What's your team dynamic like on the golf course and then as you strategize to get ready?

MAJA STARK: I mean, we've played on the national team together a lot. Me, Linn and Ingrid were on the same one, and then we've known Madelene forever. We just know each other very well.

We still have the national team coming out to LPGA tournaments and helping us, so we always kind of play as a team at a lot of tournaments anyway. You just don't see it in the scores, but we hang out with each other and we do little practice things together.

It's just been very normal. It feels like it's really fun to get to play for Sweden and not just for Europe like we do in the Solheim Cup, and it's really nice to get back to playing for like a national team style because that was the most fun thing to do growing up.

THE MODERATOR: Lydia, you don't often do something brand new in your career anymore. This is your first time competing in the International Crown, and I would guess you don't get to play on a New Zealand team very often outside of the Olympics. What has this experience been like for you so far?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, 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, but ever since they announced that there would be a world team, I really wanted to be a part of it.

I feel like we have a great team, the four of us. We might lack a bit of chemistry because we don't get to practice together or play in these kind of team formats together just from being from four different countries, but the three girls, I'd like to think we're all coming in with a lot of good momentum, and I think regardless, we're going to have a great time.

I'm excited to get the week going.

Q. Do you have any idea about competing with Korean players? And also, do you have any opinion about competing in the International Crown?

MIYU YAMASHITA: (Answer not translated into English).

Q. Maja and Miyu, how did winning a major change your life, not just in the immediate aftermath but in the weeks that followed?

MIYU YAMASHITA: I'm really glad to be known, my name, for the world, and also I'm really happy to play with a great player in the round, so yeah, it's really nice.

MAJA STARK: Honestly, it was a little bit of a struggle afterwards because it's something that I'd been looking forward to for so long, thinking about it for so long, and the U.S. Open is my favorite one.

I had a lot of comfort afterwards, but it's probably been too comfortable because I've thought you have your Tour card for five years, and I reached the goal that I wanted to reach, which is just win the U.S. Open.

So it was a bit of a struggle for me, and I feel like it took a few months to really come back and gain the motivation back that I felt before in my career. So yeah, it was really hard this summer, actually.

Q. How did you find the motivation? How did you turn it around?

MAJA STARK: I've been talking to my sports psychologist a lot, and I think it was just time, really. It feels like you kind of come down from -- well, my high wasn't very high, but you come down from people wanting to talk about it all the time, and you have to just keep thinking back to this week, and it feels like I wasn't living in that week anymore.

I had to move on and I was like, okay, but now we're doing this, we set up some new goals for the rest of the season, and I just got that mental help that I needed.

Q. Lydia, could you relate to any of that?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I think for me, I felt it after the Rio Olympics. It was the first time that golf was going to be back in over 100 years, and I wanted to make sure that I was there on the team for New Zealand.

You play a practice round and it doesn't really feel different to any other week, and you get the week going, and I obviously medalled, and in six days, the whole mental preparation and the time and sweat and everything you and your whole team put in for that moment is gone.

That was the best second-place finish I've ever had in my life and it was such a high, so I feel I can relate to Maja. One of my biggest goals is to win the U.S. Women's Open, so I can only imagine what it feels like, but I think us two wouldn't be the only two players that have gone through feelings like this.

I had some major changes, whether it was within my team or equipment, et cetera, after that moment, but you have a purpose and motivation to work towards something, and within days you achieve it and it's gone and you have to focus on the next thing.

But I think it's hard when you start having a break and some time off and you realize, like, that's in the past, but then what's next.

I can totally relate. I do believe that we're not the only two players that have probably felt that, and I give credit to Maja because it's really hard to -- it's easy to talk about the good things, but it's very difficult to talk about especially mental stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

I'm jealous that she has won a U.S. Women's Open, but there's a lot of things that come with those kind of highs, and I think unless you've been in that kind of a similar situation, it's really hard to appreciate and understand that.

And I know it's great that somebody like Maja can come forward and pretty much open it up and say, it is normal. We feel all these things. Even though I'm sure there's going to be a lot of majors and everything and a lot of highs in Maja's future and hopefully mine, it's hard as much as it's good.

I think sometimes you only see the bright side of the rainbow.

Q. Miyu, one of the teams that the Korean team is keeping an eye on is the Japanese team. It's your first time to take place in the International Crown, so what is your goal for this week, and have you discussed these goals with your other team members?

MIYU YAMASHITA: I mean, the Japanese team, I knew the Japanese and Korean teams would be very strong, and I think both teams have great teamwork, as well. All the players here are fantastic, so I'm really looking forward to the third day.

About team strategy, we haven't discussed a detailed team strategy yet, but we trust each other's games and we will focus on playing to our own strengths.

Q. This is a question that we asked all of the players. In your mind, which team should you be looking out for? Who do you think is your biggest competitor or rival in this tournament, and if you could also tell us the reason why you think that team is such a strong team.

MIYU YAMASHITA: I think the Sweden team and the world team is very strong, and I will be playing against Lydia on the first day maybe, and so she's a player who has won multiple majors, so I'm really looking forward to that challenge.

There's so many major winners here, so it's very exciting for me, so that's the reason why I decided to select that teams.

MAJA STARK: I think that the world team are probably really strong because I think at the end of the day it's about hitting good shots yourself. We're playing a four-ball the first few days, and that's very much about you hitting good shots yourself.

I think that what they maybe lack in chemistry on the team or just how much you know each other, I think they make up for in individual really good players.

LYDIA KO: Yeah, we have the top seven plus world teams here, so it's going to be very good golf, regardless. I think it being a four-ball format, like Maja said, it's going to be a lot of birdies hopefully, and that puts -- that will put a lot of pressure on the other team.

I think Japan is a very strong team. I think this is the most amount of Japanese winners I've seen on Tour. Just the level of golf for women's golf in Japan is just so high. You know, outside of just the four players this week, the competition for the four spots has been very tight; Japan is going to be strong.

But yeah, every team has a good chance. This is what I love about match play. Your seed number really is pretty irrelevant, and two teams make it out of both groups.

I think it's just going to be a lot of good golf, and the fans here have a great few days to look forward to.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Good luck.