Australia Takes Crown But Jutanugarn Is Queen
Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn takes over the number 1 ranking from compatriot Atthaya Thitikul on the Womens Match Play World rankings following 2025 International Crown won by Australia.
Thitikul’s Thailand team finished third in their group and her individual record of 2 wins from 3 games was not enough to retain her number one ranking by 0.08 points. She drops to second behind Jutanugarn who has averages 0.821 points per match over the last 4 years.
The winning Australian team was indebted to Stephanie Kyriacou who won 4.5 points from 5 matches and rose from 13th in the rankings to finish the year 6th.
Kyriacou’s record of 8 points from 10 games this year makes here the women’s match play player of the year for 2025. Also moving up was fellow Australian Mingee Lee, who also won 4.5/5 points in the International Crown to rise from 26th to 23rd.
The bookies had Japan as favourites based on Rolex Rankings, but the Match Play World Golf Rankings had the USA team as favourites and they justified this by reaching the final.
LPGA Match Play Champion Madeline Sagström move up to 7th despite her well ranked Swedish team finished bottom of their group in the pool stages. However with a record of 7.5 points from 10 games it has been a fantastic year for Sagström in the match play format.
Lauren Coughlin, who had been runner-up in the 2025 LPGA Match Play Championship, won 3 points from 5 games, but this was not enough to hold her 3rd place ranking and she fell to 8th.