West Australian Hannah Green has become just the fifth Australian with at least five wins on the LPGA Tour after closing out a three-stroke title defence at the JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club.

Playing in the final group with fellow Aussie Grace Kim, 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).

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.

The 27-year-old backed that up with a birdie at the par-5 13th and then all but wrapped up her second straight victory at Wilshire with an eagle at the par-5 15th.

A birdie at 16 provided an extra cushion as she joined Karrie Webb (41), Jan Stephenson (16), Minjee Lee (10) and Rachel Hetherington (8) with a fifth LPGA crown.

“When I chipped in on 12, I felt like I really snagged one there,” admitted Green, who passed $US5 million in career earnings with the winner’s cheque of $US562,500.

“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.

“I’m really grateful that I’ve been able to step up and win by a few.”

Victorious at the HSBC Women’s World Championship earlier in the season, it marks just the second multiple-win season of Green’s career and her third LPGA Tour title inside 12 months.

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.

“To obviously already win in Singapore and then win here this week I hope that I can get closer to my goal of being in the top 10 in the world and solidify my spot in the Olympics,” said the Tokyo 2020 Olympian.

More to come