Hannah Green takes three shot lead in Los Angeles
Hannah Green in action today – photo Harry How Getty Images
Australian Hannah Green has taken the halfway lead at the Palos Verdes Championship in California, her best of the day second round of 66, allowing her to improve from 8th to 1st and take a three shot lead over a group of four golfers including her fellow West Australian, Minjee Lee, and New Zealander, Lydia Ko.
Green appears to be building to a win in 2022, having finished runner-up last week at the Dio Implants event.
This is just the 7th start for Green in 2022 and with three top tens in her previous six, she appears to be finding a rich vein of form.
Reference was made to the fact that she arrives with good form given her near miss last week which no doubt helped her in terms of confidence coming into this week.
“Yeah, I mean, I would like to say that it was, but my two wins that I have had on tour I’ve actually missed the cut both weeks prior.
“I mean, it is nice that I have had a good week last week, and I’m actually going home back to Australia on Sunday, so I’m in a really good headspace at the moment. Hopefully that can get me across the line.
“Yeah, I feel like I’ve hit some bad shots out there. I don’t feel like I played my best golf but I definitely have played well, if that makes sense.
“But I’m excited to see what the weekend brings. I think they’re going to maybe change the course setup, maybe make things a bit more drivable. It’ll be good. I’m excited.
“Always nice to play in the last group and playing last weekend, I think that helps as well.”
Ko recovered from a shaky start when double bogeying her third hole but stormed home over the closing nine in 31 for a round of 67 and be very much in calculations for the weekend. She and Green will play together tomorrow.
Ko has taken a couple of weeks off and feels her game and mindset is better for it.
“Nothing against that event,” she said referring to missing the event in Los Angeles last week. “But I have not played well like the three times I’ve played there, so it was kind of not on my calendar.
“It was nice. I actually took a extra few days and spent it with family after Hawaii, so I stayed back a little bit and then came over to California.
“So, it was my birthday. I said last year I missed the cut to not play on my birthday, so I just decided to not play golf on my birthday without having to miss a cut.”
Lee led after the opening round but struggled to a round of 73 today to now be three off the pace and tied for second place. An eagle at her 7th hole was a highlight but there were also four bogeys and she has work to do over the weekend to catch her compatriot.
