On the heels of the fifth edition of the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, the LPGA announced where the 2027 competition will be contested.
Lake Merced Golf Club in San Francisco will host the biennial international team event, marking the second time that the International Crown has come to the Bay Area. The 2023 event was played up the road at TPC Harding Park, with Thailand beating Australia in the final.
This year’s International Crown was won by Australia over the U.S. in the final at New Korea Country Club outside of Seoul.
Official dates of the 2027 event will be announced later.
Lake Merced was originally designed by Willie Locke in 1923, but after seven years of being open, the club tasked Alister MacKenzie with renovating the course. MacKenzie removed 140 bunkers from the layout and built a new 17th hole as part of his project, though the course was drastically re-routed by Robert Graves in 1962 due to construction of the I-280 freeway.
Gil Hanse led a recent restoration in which his team moved 75,000 cubic yards of dirt, rebuilding all 18 greens, restoring the bunkering to the MacKenzie style and reimagining the entire routing to restore a number of the lost MacKenzie holes.
Lake Merced has hosted several LPGA events in the past, including the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic in 2014-16 and Mediheal Championship in 2018-19 and 2021.
“Lake Merced is excited to once again partner with the LPGA and host one of the year’s premier events...,” said Wilson Leung, president of Lake Merced Golf Club. “Our diverse membership has enjoyed hosting multiple LPGA events in the past. ... This time, we are eager for the players to experience Gil Hanse’s recent restoration of the strategic Alister MacKenzie design from the early years of our club’s history. We are thrilled to welcome 32 of the top players from around the world to compete in this great tournament.”