29 Apr 2024 | Professional golf |
Aussies on Tour: Green, Ripper GC make history
by Tony Webeck
West Australian Hannah Green has set her sights on doubling her career win tally after joining an exclusive list of Aussie greats with a fifth LPGA Tour win in Los Angeles.
Playing in the final group with fellow Aussie Grace Kim in defence of her JM Eagle LA Championship crown, Green produced a superb back nine to sign for a Sunday round of 5-under 66 and 12-under total, three clear of Sweden’s Maja Stark (68) with a further three shots to Korea’s Haeran Ryu (69).
It was her third LPGA win inside 12 months and fifth of her career, dating back to her breakthrough KPMG Women’s PGA Championship victory in June of 2019.
The 27-year-old now joins Karrie Webb (41), Jan Stephenson (16), Minjee Lee (10) and Rachel Hetherington (8) as the only Australians with at least five LPGA Tour titles but has no intention of slowing down.
“That’s really cool. Didn’t know that stat,” said Green in her winner’s press conference.
“It’s a great honour to have my name up there along with them.
“Hopefully I keep pushing and try and get into double digits.”
Starting the final round at 7-under, Green was even par through 11 holes before a chip-in for birdie at the par-3 12th impelled her drive to the finish line.
She backed that up with a birdie at the par-5 13th and then all but wrapped up her second straight victory at Wilshire Country Club with an eagle at the par-5 15th.
A birdie at 16 provided an extra cushion that she savoured on the 72nd hole, in particular.
“I’m really grateful that I’ve been able to step up and win by a few,” said Green, who passed $US5 million in career earnings with the winner’s cheque of $US562,500
“When I chipped in on 12, I felt like I really snagged one there.
“When I made eagle on 15 that kind of sealed the deal.
“I did see that Maja got it to 9-under so I knew what I needed to do but usually I make it really tricky on myself and only win by a shot.”
Victorious at the HSBC Women’s World Championship earlier in the season, it marks just the second multiple-win season of Green’s career. Ranked No.18 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking at the start of the week, the win also puts Green within reach of locking up a spot at the Paris Olympics in August.
“It’s definitely been on my mind,” said Green, who finished just three shots out of the medals at Tokyo 2020.
“Obviously still have six or seven weeks until the team is announced, so still a lot that can happen between now and then.
“Now that I’ve had two wins in the season, obviously this jumps me close to the top 10 in the world and solidifies my spot, but I don’t want to assume I’m on the team.
“Whatever I do between now and then, I’m just going to try and play my best golf and hope to make that team.”
There was an Aussie celebration closer to home, too, with Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman securing victory for Ripper GC in the first ever playoff in the teams event at LIV Adelaide.
After American Brendan Steele claimed individual honours at The Grange Golf Club, Smith and Leishman went out against Louis Oosthuizen and Dean Burmester of Stinger GC in the two-man aggregate format.
Two pars on the second playoff hole would be enough to claim the win, Smith and Leishman joined in wild celebrations by teammates Lucas Herbert and Matt Jones.
"All the boys played really well," Smith said.
"I think we all finished in the top 12 or 13 or something, which is something we probably haven't done as a team before, so that's pretty cool, as well, for everyone to show up at our home event and play really solid golf. "
Results
PGA TOUR Zurich Classic of New Orleans TPC Louisiana, Avondale, Louisiana 1 Rory McIlroy/Shane Lowry 61-70-64-68—263 $US1,286,050 each T4 Garrick Higgo/Ryan Fox (NZ) 63-72-65-65—265 $234,181 MC Erik Barnes/Harrison Endycott 67-73—140
LPGA Tour JM Eagle LA Championship Wilshire Country Club, Los Angeles, California 1 Hannah Green 67-69-70-66—272 $US562,500 T25 Grace Kim 64-66-76-77—283 $31,864 T39 Sarah Kemp 71-69-71-74—285 $17,644 T57 Karis Davidson 69-71-70-77—287 $9,909 MC Stephanie Kyriacou 75-71—146 MC Minjee Lee 74-72—146 MC Robyn Choi 71-75—146 MC Gabriela Ruffels 76-71—147 MC Hira Naveed 74-78—152
DP World Tour ISPS HANDA Championship Taiheiyo Club (Gotemba Cse), Gotemba, Japan 1 Yuto Katsuragawa 70-65-65-63—263 €356,625.02 T11 Daniel Hillier (NZ) 68-67-67-68—270 €32,755.56 MC Haydn Barron 70-68—138 MC Kazuma Kobori 69-70—139 MC Anthony Quayle 69-72—141 MC Brad Kennedy 70-72—142 MC Jason Scrivener 72-71—143
LIV Golf LIV Golf Adelaide The Grange Golf Club, Adelaide, South Australia 1 Brendan Steele 66-64-68—198$US4m T9 Matt Jones 66-68-68—202$385,500 T9 Danny Lee (NZ) 64-67-71—202$385,500 T14 Lucas Herbert 73-65-65—203$275,000 T14 Marc Leishman 67-71-65—203$275,000 T14 Cameron Smith 68-65-70—203$275,000
Korn Ferry Tour Veritex Bank Championship Texas Rangers Golf Club, Arlington, Texas 1 Tim Widing 62-63-65-63—253 $US180,000 MC Brett Drewitt 67-69—136 MC Rhein Gibson 66-70—136 MC Steven Bowditch 76-68—144 WD Dimi Papadatos 71
Ladies European Tour Investec South African Women’s Open Erinvale Country and Golf Estate, Cape Town, South Africa 1 Manon De Roey 69-67-66-72—274 €48,000 T2 Momoka Kobori (NZ) 69-70-68-71—278 €24,000
PGA TOUR Champions Mitsubishi Electric Classic TPC Sugarloaf, Duluth, Georgia 1 Stephen Ames 71-64-67—202$US300,000 T4 Steven Alker (NZ) 65-71-71—207$108,000 T6 John Senden 67-70-71—208$76,000 T17 Mark Hensby 72-71-69—212$28,280 T17 Richard Green 67-72-73—212$28,280 T26 Michael Wright 74-66-74—214$17,000 T35 Stuart Appleby 74-72-70—216$10,460 T35 Steve Allan 69-69-78—216$10,460 T46 David McKenzie 73-73-72—218$6,800 66 David Bransdon 73-77-74—224$2,400
Challenge Tour UAE Challenge Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE 1 Rasmus Neergard-Petersen 65-72-70-67—274 €44,752.94 T25 Connor McKinney 69-69-69-75—282 €2,293.59 MC Hayden Hopewell 77-75—152 MC Tom Power Horan 77-76—153
Korean PGA 2024 Woori Finance Championship Ferrum Club (East-West Cse) 1 Seongjae Lim 70-67-71-69—277 KRW300m T23 Wonjoon Lee 73-69-73-70—285 KRW13.8m T44 Kevin Chun (NZ) 69-74-77-70—290 KRW7.26m T49 Junseok Lee 68-73-74-76—291 KRW6.78m
Epson Tour IOA Championship Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon, Beaumont, California 1 Juliana Hung 64-64-67—195 $US30,000 2 Fiona Xu (NZ) 68-69-67—204$19,053 T54 Su Oh 71-71-75—217$797 MC Cassie Porter 74-74—148 MC Amelia Garvey (NZ) 81-74—155
PGA TOUR Americas Diners Club Peru Open Los Inkas Golf Club, Lima, Peru 1 Stuart Macdonald 69-66-65-71—271 T18 Harry Hillier (NZ) 68-70-71-71—280 T62 Jason Hong 69-73-77-74—293 MC Charlie Hillier 73-73—146
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