Hannah Green now Australia’s leading ranked female golfer
Hannah Green – file photo Bruce Young
A 3rd place finish at last weekend’s LPGA Mediheal Championship at Lake Merced in Daly City near San Francisco, has allowed Perth’s Hannah Green to become Australia’s leading ranked female golfer for the first time.
Green now ranks 14th in the Rolex World Rankings for female golfers, one ahead of her fellow West Australian, Minjee Lee.
After an overall disappointing US Women’s Open last week at the nearby Olympic Club, Green was delighted to have hit the ball a lot better, especially in this week’s final round.
“I hit the ball a lot better today. The first few days I wasn’t really hitting it well off the tee, so never really giving myself opportunities to hit the green.
“So I don’t actually know how many I hit today, but more than I have the entire week. I gave myself good opportunities and felt confident over those putts. Sounds really obnoxious, but I had a few more opportunities from close range and didn’t feel comfortable with them and didn’t put a good stroke. Just bobbled all over the place.
“Super happy with the round. Felt like it was possible out there, but obviously had to have everything going, so it was nice to finish like that.”
Green talked of the different mindset she now enjoys given the greater consistency in her game in 2021.
“I feel like my first two years I was just striving to make the cut and then golfing around on the weekend.
“So I guess it’s nice to have experience of being in contention, and obviously having a couple wins you’re never really out of it. Obviously that’s the goal, is to have many weeks in the Top 10 and keep putting myself around it.
“So I’m hoping next week and KPMG I can put myself in a better start the first couple days and just keep going.”
The KPMG she refers to is of course the KPMG PGA Championship she won two years ago, making her only the third Australian female to have won a major title.
Green finished six shots behind the winner Matilda Castren of Sweden this week, but her final round of 66 saw her secure a share of 3rd place with So Yeon Ryu and add another US$88,000 to her already significant earnings for the 2021 season.
Green has now earned US$464,000 for the season to date without winning an event, accumulating five top twenty finishes in eight starts, three of those inside the top ten.
Green will also move into 7th place in the Race to the Globe series.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko tied for 9th, Minjee Lee 40th, Katherine Kirk 46th, Su Oh 57th after a horror weekend and Sarah Jane Smith 64th. Ko tops the Race to the Globe standings and is in 2nd position behind US Open winner Yuka Saso in earnings for 2021.
The LPGA Tour now leaves the West Coast and will play this week’s event in Michigan before the KPMG PGA Championship in Georgia
