Tee time treats for Aussies seeking a hat-trick of majors

From Tim Tams to tee times, Australia's women golfers are on the cusp of making sporting history at Royal Porthcawl.

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Grabbing a lift from Cardiff to Royal Porthcawl with Karen Lunn. The 1993 British Open champion and current CEO of the WPGA Tour of Australasia. The big boss. I spy, with my little eye, a stash of performance-enhancing substances in the boot of her car. I must confront her about this.

Why, exactly, are 12 packets of this conspicuous product in your vehicle? Did you really think it would go unnoticed by such a hard-rosed, ruthless, investigative reporter? Lunn fangs it through Pontyclun, Pencoed, Coity and Merthyr Mawr, taking a couple of left turns when we’re meant to go right, and rights when we’re supposed to go left, because the street signs are written in this indecipherable Welsh gobbledygook, before we get to the leathery course and this big-hearted woman disappears to the clubhouse.

“It’ll be a nice surprise to put in the girls’ lockers,” Lunn says. “When they finish their practice rounds, they’ll come in and there will be a packet of Tim Tams there for each of them. It’s the little things. I think when you’re away from home all year, having done it for so many years, I appreciate the little things. They can have some Tim Tams to celebrate being in the field this week.”

Hannah Green preparing for the Women's British Open at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in Wales Picture: Monica Marchesani / Golf Australia

One of the nine sweet-toothed, sweet-swing Australians in the Open field is Hannah Green. She’s disarmingly likeable, standing here for a cruisy chat behind the ninth green. Genuine, sincere, thoughtful, humorous. A bit of a knockabout. It was Green who sprayed Grace Kim with a super-sized bottle of bubbly after The Evian Championship and roared, “It’s your turn!”

Meaning, it was good Grace’s turn to do what Green did at the 2019 Women’s PGA Championship. It was good Grace’s turn to do what Minjee Lee did at the 2021 Evian Championship, the 2022 US Women’s Open and this year’s Women’s PGA Championship. It was good Grace’s turn to win a major. Which reminds you, and Green, that six years have whistled by since her one and only major triumph at Minnesota’s Hazeltine National Golf Club.

“Feels like forever ago,” she says. “It can play on your mind a little bit. But I’m not going to let it.”

Hannah Green reacts after winning the 2019 KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Course in Minnesota Picture: Getty Images

She’s still the world No.11, and she can still knock the ball up the middle, and she can still dispatch it to the depths of a cup, and she’s only 28, and she can still put her autograph to scores in the 60s, but victories have been elusive since her early supernova breakthrough. She wouldn’t mind it being her turn again at the Women’s British Open out here in the boondocks of southern Wales.

“I’m definitely a better and stronger player now,” Green says. “I remember after Hazeltine I was absolutely exhausted. I’d never done any media, I’d never had that sort of attention, I hadn’t won an LPGA event and there I was at a major.

“Physically, I found the strain really difficult in those four rounds. I think what helped me was how simple I could keep it. When you’ve been on tour a while, you can start thinking about the good and the bad things because you’ve experienced both. When you’re younger, you really only have good thoughts. The brain can be so powerful.”

Australia’s Hannah Green soaked in celebrations on the 18th green after winning the KPMG PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club Picture: Getty Images

Green’s attempt to get the chocolates at the Open has been very Carlos Alcaraz in the build-up. The Spanish tennis player prepares for Wimbledon every year with a trip to the party island of Ibiza. He lets his hair down and watches the sun come up. Green did a bit of an Alcaraz when she went from the Evian to a Belgian electro-pop dance music festival called Tomorrowland.

“Yeah, I agree!” she laughed to the suggestion this was a rather free-spirited way to get ready for a major. “It was awesome. Honestly, it was so much fun. I feel like I’m still recovering from how little sleep we got that week. I went to Tomorrowland and there was absolutely no way I could come back for the Scottish Open last week. My mum is Scottish, so I would’ve had some family watching me, but I just really wanted to go to Tomorrowland. I’ve always wanted to do it. My whole life.”

The nine Australians with Tim Tams in their lockers at Royal Porthcawl are Green, Lee, good Grace Kim, Stephanie Kyriacou, Gabi Ruffels, Cassie Porter, Kirsten Rudgeley, Karis Davidson and Hira Naveed. While most tour players keep to themselves, the Australian contingent couldn’t be more conspicuous in their togetherness if they were teeing off to Men at Work’s Down Under. They all have a crack. Nobody’s dying with the electro-pop dance music in them.

“It’s an amazing time for women’s golf in Australia,” Lunn says. “To come off Minjee’s win at the KPMG (PGA Championship) and then have Grace’s incredible win at Evian, and now here we are with the chance to win three women’s majors in a row, it’s an unprecedented time.”

Lunn says of Green: “Greenie’s just the nicest person in the world. When we say people never change, Greenie has truly never changed. I’ve known her since she was probably 14 years old. All of the Aussie girls, they’re great kids. They’re not kids anymore, but they are to me. We’ve just got a great group of Australian players on tour and they’re all playing well. They’re seeing each other in contention and thinking, ‘Well, if you’re winning, why can’t it be me?”

Hannah Green is the first to spray Grace Kim with champagne after her Australian mate beat Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand on the second hole of the playoff to win the Evian Championship Picture: Getty Images

Will Tomorrowland ever come again for Green as a major champion? She says of the Australian wolf pack: “We’re supporting each other no matter what week it is, no matter what our schedule is. We’re socialising with each other. We’re quite often staying with each other, which is very rare on tour.

“Like, this week, myself and Steph Kyriacou are sharing a place. It’s a great thing we all have. We’re feeding off each other but we’re very competitive as part of that. We all want to win ourselves. Of course we do. But if you don’t do it yourself, you definitely want it to be another Australian.”

Green had every right to be absent from Kim’s triumphant moment. She missed the cut at the Evian. Could have been on her way to Tomorrowland. Literally, figuratively. She stayed in France in case one of her peers prevailed. Australians keep winning, tomorrow always comes. They’re on a hat-trick at the Open.

“Minjee and I have both won majors and it was just so nice to see Gracey do the same,” Green says. “There’s a lot of us Australians out here. The depth we have is amazing. I’ve been around a long time and I can feel like a bit of an older sister at times. Well, not an older sister, but I feel like I’ve built up a lot of experience. There’s so much to play for. It’s definitely feeling like a bit of a golden age. Wouldn’t it be amazing if Australia could win three in a row?”