Seeking to join Jan Stephenson and Karrie Webb as the only Australians to win three times in a single LPGA Tour season, Green began the final round two shot back at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.

Green’s birdie at the opening hole and Korda’s bogey on two brought the two together at the top of the leaderboard and it quickly turned into a two-horse race.

The 27-year-old took the outright lead when Korda dropped a shot at the par-4 seventh but joined Korda again at 11-under when she made bogey at the par-5 eighth.

The pair made a trio of matching birdies at 10, 13 and 15 to move out to 14-under and four strokes clear of the field.

They are neck and neck! 🏃‍♀️@HannahGreenGolf birdies and @NellyKorda follows 🐥 pic.twitter.com/t5LAZvAdik

— LPGA (@LPGA) May 19, 2024

Each hole was an absorbing round of a heavyweight title fight.

Every time that Green landed a body blow, Korda countered with one of her own.

In a possible precursor to the US Women’s Open in two weeks’ time, two players with seven wins between them this season battled until the 72nd hole when Green’s fourth missed fairway of the day would prove costly.

The deep rough left of the fairway grabbed hold of her club as she played her second shot, the ball diving left and short of the putting surface.

The 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA champion showed great touch to give herself a par putt of some 10 feet but it missed on the low side as Korda clinched her sixth win in her past seven starts.

Although disappointed to come up agonisingly short, Green was proud of how she stood up against one of the greatest stretches by anyone in golf history.

“To lose to Nelly… it’s sad, but then it’s also Nelly Korda,” Green reflected.

“She’s obviously so dominant right now. To feel like second behind her is quite nice.”

Green is looking toward the US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club where she attended as a spectator in 2015 as a Karrie Webb scholarship holder.

“I’m super excited for the next stretch of events,” Green added.

“To go back to somewhere that I haven’t actually played but been outside the ropes, that was the thing that made me want to become a professional golfer, watching Karrie there.

“I’m really excited for Lancaster.”

Green wasn’t the only outstanding performance from an Australian woman this week.

Gabriela Ruffels continued her outstanding rookie season on the LPGA Tour with a third third-place finish to will propel her inside the top 50 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings while Kirsten Rudgeley shot 65 in the final round to finish tied for fourth at the Amundi German Masters on the Ladies European Tour.

Another very solid week at a major for @Minwoo27Lee.

He breaks down his @PGAChampionship ⬇️

📹 @PGA pic.twitter.com/FhuUdsuOyA

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) May 19, 2024

A final round of 4-under 67 saw Min Woo Lee finish as the leading Australian at the US PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.

Lee’s four-round total of 9-under earned the 25-year-old a tied for 26th as American Xander Schauffele (65) birdied the 72nd hole to win his maiden major championship by a single stroke from Bryson DeChambeau (64).

It was another winning week too for the Kiwis, with Harry Hillier shooting 59 on his way to an eight-shot win on the PGA TOUR Americas and Fiona Xu winning the Copper Rock Championship on the Epson Tour by seven.

Results

US PGA Championship
Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky
1          Xander Schauffele        62-68-68-65—263      $US3.3m
T26      Min Woo Lee                72-66-70-67—275      $113,962
T43      Jason Day                    71-67-69-71—278       $48,969
T43      Lucas Herbert               69-67-68-74—278      $48,969
T63      Cameron Smith            68-70-70-73—281      $25,202
75        Ryan Fox (NZ)               72-68-72-74—286      $22,350
MC       Adam Scott                  72-73—145
MC       Cam Davis                   78-71—149
MC       Kazuma Kobori (NZ)     73-77—150

LPGA Tour
Mizuho Americas Open
Liberty National Golf Club, Jersey City, New Jersey
1          Nelly Korda                  70-68-65-71—274       $US450,000
2          Hannah Green              71-71-63-70—275       $277,738
T3        Gabriela Ruffels           68-70-68-72—278       $146,358
T21      Minjee Lee                   69-72-71-69—281       $30,238
T51      Karis Davidson             71-70-71-77—289       $10,189
T51      Sarah Kemp                 73-67-72-77—289       $10,189
T53      Stephanie Kyriacou      74-69-71-76—290       $9,427
MC       Grace Kim                    72-72—144
MC       Robyn Choi                  73-74—147
MC       Lydia Ko (NZ)                72-77—149

Japan Golf Tour
Kansai Open Golf Championship
Meishin Yokaichi Country Club, Shiga
1          Takahiro Hatachi                      69-65-65-67—266       ¥16m
T14      Michael Hendry                       72-67-70-66—275       ¥1.376m
MC       Brad Kennedy                          77-67—144
MC       Anthony Quayle                       70-76—146

Korn Ferry Tour
AdventHealth Championship
Blue Hills Country Club, Kansas City, Missouri
1          Harry Higgs                 71-67-65-66—269      
Won in sudden-death playoff
MC       Rhein Gibson               72-71—143
MC       Dimi Papadatos           75-70—145
MC       Brett Drewitt                75-70—145
MC       Steven Bowditch          75-78—153

Ladies European Tour
Amundi German Masters
Golf and Country Club Seddiner See, Berlin, Germany
1          Alexandra Forsterling   70-70-69-67—276       €45,000
Won in sudden-death playoff
T4        Kirsten Rudgeley          73-74-68-65—280       €12,150
T24      Momoka Kobori (NZ)   74-73-68-72—287       €3,510
MC       Amy Walsh                   73-79—152

Korean PGA
SK Telecom Open
Pinx Golf Club, Seogwipo, South Korea
1          K.J. Choi                       71-64-72-74—281
Won in sudden-death playoff  
MC       Wonjoon Lee                77-74—151
MC       Junseok Lee                  78-73—151
MC       Kevin Chun (NZ)           84-73—157

PGA TOUR Americas
Inter Rapidisimo Golf Championship
Club El Rincón de Cajicá, Bogotá, Colombia
1          Harry Hillier (NZ)          68-59-68-67—262       $US40,500
T45      Jason Hong                 70-70-76-69—285

Epson Tour
Copper Rock Championship
Copper Rock Golf Course, Hurricane, Utah
1          Fiona Xu (NZ)               67-63-64—194             $US37,500
T30      Cassie Porter                74-68-71—213             $2,166
MC       Su Oh                          74-72—146
MC       Amelia Garvey (NZ)      77-72—149