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The wheel turns slowly but surely.
Four years ago now, Hannah Green rolled up at the Women’s PGA Championship, checked into a share house with Karrie Webb among others, and duly won her first major championship.
Out on the putting green when she holed out for par to beat the world No. 1 Sung Hyun Park, Green was drenched with beer by a bunch of her housemates that included Karrie Webb Scholarship holders Grace Kim and Becky Kay, and no less a figure than Webb herself.
This week Green returns to the women’s PGA Championship, the second major of the 2023 season, with good form to show and with two new Webb Scholarship girls in tow – Queenslander Justice Bosio and Western Australian Maddison Hinson-Tolchard.
That pair of gifted, young players will draw knowledge and experience from Webb this week but also from Green, Minjee Lee and the other Australian stars teeing it up in the $US9 million event.
It’s all part of the mentoring that Golf Australia employs for players in its High Performance squads, connecting young and talented amateurs with touring professionals.
Cameron Smith also does it with young male players, most recently with Jeff Guan and Joseph Buttress at the US Open last week, Geoff Ogilvy’s foundation is devoted to it, and it happens around the world in less formal circumstances, with young players practicing and hanging out with their older peers.
And Green is most surely a wisened pro at 26. She’s battled through her early years as a pro, lonely on the road and struggling for form.
She has solved those particularly issues by travelling regularly back to her beloved Perth, and learned that while it might not help her bank balance or her accumulation of points, it helps her to play better when she returns.
Green goes to New Jersey this week having won an LPGA tournament in Los Angeles in April, with confidence in her stride. She’s also proud to have seen her friend Grace Kim, now an LPGA rookie, win her first tournament on the biggest women’s tour in the world.
“I do think we feed off each other’s successes,” she told Golf WA. “You always want an Australian to do well but you also want to be that Australian who’s up there.
“Seeing Grace Kim winning in Hawaii [at the LPGA Tour’s LOTTE Championship] a few weeks earlier had a big impact. I was so proud of her because the win came so early in her career, but it made me want to win a trophy even.”
Perth’s Green is one of eight Australians playing at Baltusrol in New Jersey this week, including world No. 5 Lee who is yet to win on tour this year. Green told Golf WA recently that she felt comfortable out on tour again after some time at home with coach Ritchie Smith and sports scientist Ryan Lumsden.
“Having spent time with Ritchie and Ryan I feel like I’m in a much better place. I definitely want to continue winning and I’m really excited about the next stretch of events, including the four majors.
“I want to say that I could win a couple more events before I next come home but with the level of golf on tour, it’s so hard to win. If that doesn’t happen, hopefully I’ll just be playing good golf.”
In Connecticut, Min Woo Lee got a late call-up to the Travelers Championship worth $US20 million and he gets another opportunity to secure his playing rights in America for 2024.
Lee is already a Special Temporary Member of the US Tour for the rest of this season, giving him unlimited invitations to play.
But if he can accumulate more Fedex Cup points than the 125th player this season, he is automatically upgraded for next season with full playing rights.
Currently he has 313 points, well ahead of the 125th-ranked player. The 24-year-old Lee, who finished in the top 10 at the US Open thus securing his place in the field for the Travelers, is currently a full member of the DP World Tour and in the top five on the points list on that tour.
PHOTO: Hannah Green has already won on the tour this year. Image: Getty
Tee times AEST
LPGA Tour
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, NJ
TV Fox 505: – Friday 23/06 2am: Live R1 – Friday 23/06 7am: Live R1 – Saturday 24/06 2am: Live R2 – Saturday 24/06 7am: Live R2 – Sunday 25/06 1am: Live R3 – Monday 26/06 1am: Live FR/R4 Kayo: – Friday – Monday: 5AM
PGA Tour
Travelers Championship TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut, USA.
DP World Tour
BMW International Open Golfclub München Eichenried, Munich, Germany.
Ladies European Tour
Tipsport Czech Ladies Open Royal Beroun Golf Club
Legends Tour
Irish Legends Seapoint Golf Links, Co Louth, Ireland
Japan Tour
Japan Players Championship Nishi Nasuno Country Club
Korn Ferry Tour
Compliance Solutions Championship Jimmie Austin Ou Golf Club, Norman, Oklahoma, USA.
Challenge Tour
Blot Open De Bretagne Golf Blue Green de Pléneuf Val André, Pléneuf, France.
PGA Champions Tour
DICK’S Sporting Goods Open En-Joie GC, Endicott, New York, USA.
Epson Tour
Island Resort Championship Harris, Michigan, USA
PGA Tour Latinoamerica
Jalisco Open GDL Atlas CC, Guadalajara, Mexico
PGA Tour Canada
Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open presented by Brandt Elk Ridge Resort – Tournament Course, Waskesiu Lake, SK, Canada
Asian Tour
The 65th Kolon Korea Open Golf Championship Woo Jeong Hills Country Club
