Aussies on Tour: Green, Lee headline Women’s World Championship assault - PGA of Australia

Aussies on Tour: Green, Lee headline Women’s World Championship assault


West Australians Hannah Green and Minjee Lee will feature in two of the marquee groups of the opening two rounds when the LPGA Tour makes its return to Asia this afternoon for the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.

The field of 69-players have been forced to undertake strict COVID-19 protocols in order to return to play in Asia for the first time since November 2019 with four Aussies making the trip from the US, Green, Lee, Katherine Kirk and Su Oh.

A decade since Karrie Webb’s victory in this event at Tanah Merah Country Club in Singapore, the Aussie quartet arrived at the famed Sentosa Golf Club on Monday to prepare to take on the Tanjong Course, one of two courses at the spectacular Sentosa facility.

Both ranked inside the top-15 in the current Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Lee (No.10) and Green (No.14) will commence their campaigns just after 11am AEST on Thursday among two of the more high-profile groups.

Tied for third at last week’s LA Open, Green will play alongside ANA Inspiration breakout champion Patty Tavatanakit and three-time LPGA Tour winner Nasa Hataoka while Lee has been drawn with resurgent Kiwi Lydia Ko and seven-time major champion Inbee Park.

Although her start to 2021 has been below the consistently high standard she has maintained for the vast majority of her career, Lee will return to Sentosa with positive memories to draw from, finishing runner-up to Sung Hyun Park in 2019 and tied for sixth in 2018.

The Women’s World Championship is the most significant event in other busy week for Aussies professional across the globe.

Seven Australians are in action for The Crowns tournament on the Japan Golf Tour where Aussies have been successful dating back 45 years to David Graham in 1976 while Scott Hend joins Jake McLeod and Maverick Antcliff at the European Tour’s Tenerife Open in Spain starting later tonight.

Cameron Davis, Cameron Percy and Aaron Baddeley are teeing it up at the PGA TOUR’s Valspar Championship in Florida and David McKenzie has joined the field for the Champions Tour’s Insperity Invitational where John Senden will make his seniors debut. Read more on Senden’s story here.

Round 1 tee times AEST

LPGA Tour
HSBC Women’s World Championship
Sentosa Golf Club (Tanjong Cse), Singapore
10.18am*            Katherine Kirk, Charley Hull, Ally Ewing
10.25am              Su Oh, Caroline Masson, Brittany Lincicome
11.13am              Hannah Green, Patty Tavatanakit, Nasa Hataoka
11.25am              Minjee Lee, Lydia Ko, Inbee Park

Defending champion: Sung Hyun Park (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Karrie Webb (2011)
Top Aussie prediction: Hannah Green
TV schedule: Live 12.30pm-5.30pm Thursday, Friday on Fox Sports 511; Live 12.30pm-5pm Saturday on Fox Sports 505; Live 12.30pm-3pm Sunday on Fox Sports 503; Live 3pm-5.30pm Sunday on Fox Sports 506.

Japan Golf Tour
The Crowns
Nagoya Golf Club (Wago Cse), Aichi
9.50am Michael Hendry, Keisuke Kondo, Eric Sugimoto
10.10am              David Bransdon, Yoshikazu Haku, Naoto Nakanishi
10.20am*            Brad Kennedy, Hirofumi Miyase, Toshinori Muto
10.30am              Matthew Griffin, Dylan Perry, Taichi Teshima
10.50am              Todd Sinnott, Scott Vincent, Taihei Sato
11.10am*            Adam Bland, Shaun Norris, Yosuke Asaji
11.40am              Anthony Quayle, Angelo Que, Koumei Oda

Defending champion: Katsumasa Miyamoto (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Brendan Jones (2011), Roger Mackay (1994), Peter Senior (1993), Greg Norman (1989), Graham Marsh (1977, 1981), David Graham (1976)
Top Aussie prediction: Brad Kennedy

European Tour
Tenerife Open
Golf Costa Adeje, Tenerife, Spain
6.34pm*              Maverick Antcliff, Pep Angles, Kalle Samooja
7.07pm Jake McLeod, Max Schmitt, Clément Sordet
10.06pm*            Scott Hend, Scott Fernandez, Edoardo Molinari

Defending champion: Jarmo Sandelin (1995)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Maverick Antcliff
TV schedule: Live 11pm-4am Thursday, Friday; Live 10.30pm-3am Saturday; Live 10pm-2.30am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.

Challenge Tour
Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open
Royal Cape GC, Cape Town, South Africa
8pm       Daniel Hillier, Jonas Kolbing, Roberto Lupini
9.10pm*              Deyen Lawson, Pelle Edberg, Jake Redman

Defending champion: Anton Karlsson
Past Aussie winners: Nil

PGA TOUR
Valspar Championship
Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Cse), Palm Harbor, Florida
9.17pm*              Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan, Patrick Rodgers
10.34pm*            Tim Wilkinson, Brian Stuard, Sam Burns
2.05am*              Cameron Davis, Camilo Villegas, Alex Noren
2.16am*              Cameron Percy, Charl Schwartzel, Talor Gooch
3.55am*              Danny Lee, Rory Sabbatini, Luke List

Defending champion: Paul Casey (2019)
Past Aussie winners: John Senden (2014)
Top Aussie prediction: Cameron Davis
TV schedule: Live 4am-8am Friday, Saturday; Live 3am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.

Korn Ferry Tour
Huntsville Championship
The Ledges, Huntsville, Alabama
9.45pm*              Curtis Luck, José de Jesús Rodríguez, Brett Coletta
10.27pm              Mark Hensby, Davis Riley, Will Wilcox
3.21am Brett Drewitt, Fabián Gómez, Nicholas Thompson
4.03am Jamie Arnold, Charlie Saxon, Wade Binfield
4.14am Nick Voke, Erik Barnes, Chandler Blanchet
4.45am*              Harrison Endycott, Mark Blakefield, Bobby Bai

Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Jamie Arnold

Korean PGA Tour
KPGA Gunsan CC Open
Gunsan Country Club (Lake Cse), Gunsan, South Korea
9am*     Wonjoon Lee
9.10am Kevin Chun
9.40am Junseok Lee

Symetra Tour
Garden City Charity Classic at Buffalo Dunes
Buffalo Dunes Golf Club, Garden City, Kansas
11.03pm              Hira Naveed, Elise Bradley, Fernanda Lira
11.03pm*            Soo Jin Lee, Tess Hackworthy, Valerie Tanguay
11.58pm*            Julienee Soo, Frida Kinhult, Elaine Wood
3.30am*              Stephanie Na, Vicky Hurst, Alejandra Llaneza
4.25am Robyn Choi, Haylee Harford, Marta Sanz Barrio

Champions Tour
Insperity Invitational
The Woodlands Country Club, The Woodlands, Texas
1.15am*              Rod Pampling, John Huston, Joey Sindelar            
1.20am John Senden, Mike Weir, Glen Day
1.55am*              David McKenzie, Blaine McCallister, Kent Jones

Defending champion: Scott McCarron (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Rod Pampling
TV schedule: Live 2am-4am Saturday; Live 5am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 505.

* Starting from 10th tee


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