LPGA Tour: Australian Hannah Green wins $860k after defending defended LA Championship crown
Australian golf star Hannah Green has pocketed almost $1m after a stunning LPGA tour win that has put her Paris Olympic dreams firmly within sight.
Australian golf star Hannah Green hopes her latest LPGA Tour triumph can help secure her ticket to the Paris Olympics and provide a platform for a second major tournament victory.
In a performance that elevated Green to elite company in Australian golf, the 27-year-old successfully defended her LA Championship crown to claim her fifth LPGA tour victory on Monday.
Green shot a final-round 66 at the Wilshire Golf Club to finish 12 under, three strokes ahead of Sweden’s Maja Stark (68).
The win was Green’s second of the year following her HSBC Women’s World Championship victory in Singapore.
She is just the second player alongside American world No.1 Nelly Korda to win twice on the LPGA Tour this year.
Green’s LA Championship win was her third tour victory in 12 months and earnt her a $856,749 ($US562,500) payday.
Green, who also won at Wilshire Golf Club last April, hopes the victory can help deliver on her twin targets this year – the Games and a second major win.
The West Australian won her first and only major – the KPMG PGA Championship – in June, 2019, but feels she is now more consistent.
“I think that’s kind of the one I want the most,” Green said of her quest for a second major championship.
“Didn’t have the best start in Houston last week at the Chevron Championship but I am really excited to go to the venues.
“There are a couple of tournaments that I haven’t played before, which hopefully will be a good thing.
“I am really excited and I hope that I can play more consistently. I don’t think I played very well in majors last year but I did in 2022, so I hope that I am up there in contention and trying to get another trophy.”
Green’s big payday took her past $7.6 million ($US5 million) in earnings.
Her other big target this year is a spot in the Australian team for the Paris Olympics and she hopes her LA victory will help book her ticket.
“We still have six or seven weeks until the final team is announced, so there is still a lot that can happen between now and then,” Green said.
“But I think now that I’ve had two wins in the season, hopefully that jumps me close to the top 10 in the world and solidifies my spot. But you never know.
“Grace (Kim), unfortunately, she didn’t have the weekend that she wanted but I know she is capable of playing really good golf.
“Gabi Ruffels, Steph Kyriacou, Karis Davidson, they all are striving to be the best that they can be.
“So I don’t want to just assume that I’m in the team. I’m still fighting for that second spot and whatever I do between now and KPMG, I’m just going to try and play my best golf and hope to make that team.”
Green is just the fifth Australian to have at least five wins on the LPGA Tour, joining Karrie Webb (41), Jan Stephenson (16), Minjee Lee (10) and Rachel Hetherington (eight).
“It’s really cool,’’ she said. “I didn’t know that stat.
“It’s a great honour to have my name up there along with them and hopefully I keep pushing and try and get into double digits.”
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