The strong form of Georgia Hall and Charley Hull so far in 2023 gave Team England hope it could be a bit of a sleeper this week as the LPGA relaunches the Hanwha LifePlus International Crown for the first time in five years. But last-minute decisions by both players to skip the event left officials searching to fill out the country’s four-woman roster with the eight nation team competition set to begin Thursday at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
As first reported by Golfweek, Hall and Hull both notified officials Saturday that they would be withdrawing from the event. Both players were competing in the JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club after playing the previous week at the Chevron Championship, the LPGA’s first major of 2023.
Ranked 10th and 17th, respectively, in the Rolex Women’s Rankings, Hall and Hull are being replaced by Alice Hewson and Liz Young, members of the Ladies European Tour ranked 172nd and 216th. Hewson and Young will join Jodi Ewart Shadoff (45th) and Bronte Law (103rd) to fill out the lineup.
Through the LPGA, Hall explained that she has been dealing with an injury to her left foot in recent weeks and that “in spite of daily physio treatment it’s not improving, so I’ve been advised to take a week off.” While playing through the injury, Hall has finished runner-up twice this season while posting six top-15 finishes in her first six starts before finishing T-44 this past week in Los Angeles.
Hull said her withdrawal was related to stomach issues, saying she hadn’t been feeling well for several weeks and was planning to return home to England to take three or four weeks off to rest. “I was hoping I could play through it, but it seems not and I’m going to need to seek some help,” Hull said through the LPGA. “I’m really sorry to let the tournament down and of course my teammates, but I’m going to have to take some time out to get healthy
Hull finished T-17 at Wilshire after missing the cut at the Chevron Championship the previous week. In her other four starts on the LPGA Tour in 2023, she has finished no worse than T-23, with a T-2 at the season-opening Tournament of Champions and a T-7 at the LPGA Drive On Championship.
England is the No. 5 seed entering the competition and is in the same pool as the United States, Sweden and China. Pool play runs Thursday through Saturday with the top two teams in each of the two pools advancing to the semifinals and finals on Sunday.