Both past winners of the event – Green victorious in the past two – Lee began the final round best placed to make a move up the leaderboard on Easter Sunday.

A 3-under 69 was only good enough for a share of seventh, Green one shot further back in a tie for ninth after closing with six birdies in her round of 5-under 67.

Four of Lee’s six bogeys for the week came in succession to close out the front nine of Round 3 but the 28-year-old stayed within touch of the leaders with four back-nine birdies.

Despite having made birdie the previous two days at the par-5 first, Lee began the final round with six straight pars as the leaders extended their advantage.

There were birdies at seven, nine, 14 and 16 yet not enough to make an impression on the top of the leaderboard.

Yet what will please Lee and coach Ritchie Smith are ball-striking stats across the week that will hold her in good stead for The Chevron Championship starting Thursday night.

The two-time major winner hit 75 per cent of fairways and 82 per cent of greens in regulation across the week at El Caballero Country Club, numbers that she would love to replicate in conjunction with a good week with the long putter.

Green was sub-70 all four rounds in a valiant attempt to join Karrie Webb as the lone Aussies to win the same LPGA event three years straight.

There was extra motivation for Green’s defence this week as she pledged to donate to the LA Fire Relief Association for every birdie and eagle she made across the 72 holes.

That amounted to $10,500 to help the community back on their feet after the devastating wildfires in January.

“I’m super happy,” said Green after her final round.

“I did a little bit of a tally last night. At the start of the week, I didn’t really know how many birdies we were going to make, so I was hoping that it was going to be a course where we make a ton.

“Definitely a lot of opportunities where I could have made some more, so I’m grateful that I did make the amount that I did.

“Obviously going to a great cause, and good to see some of the guys come out.

“I know at least where my money is going to, so I’m very happy with that.”

One of seven Aussies to contest The Chevron, a bogey-free Sunday 68 for a share of 16th was also a nice source of momentum for Stephanie Kyriacou.

There were top-15 finishes for both Cam Davis and Elvis Smylie.

Coming in on the back of five straight missed cuts, Davis could have finished as high as a tie for third at the RBC Heritage but dropped four shots in four holes around the turn in the final round to finish tied 13th.

Tied for seventh through 36 holes, Elvis Smylie closed with four birdies on the back nine to earn a share of 15th at the Volvo China Open to stay 15th on the DP World Tour Race to Dubai ranking.

Photo: Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images

Results

PGA TOUR
RBC Heritage
Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
1          Justin Thomas              61-69-69-68—267       $US3.6m
Won on first hole of sudden death playoff
T13      Cam Davis                   70-66-67-71—274       $364,000
T49      Adam Scott                  68-70-69-73—280       $48,000
T49      Jason Day                    68-69-70-73—280       $48,000
T54      Karl Vilips                     71-65-71-74—281       $44,500
T61      Min Woo Lee                72-71-71-68—282       $41,500

Corales Puntacana Championship
Puntacana Resort & Club (Corales Cse), Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
1          Garrick Higgo              64-68-70-72—274       $US720,000
T26      Aaron Baddeley           66-70-70-75—281       $29,800
T59      Ryan Fox (NZ)               70-71-73-74—288       $8,960

LPGA Tour
JM Eagle LA Championship
El Caballero Country Club, Los Angeles, California
1          Ingrid Lindblad            68-63-68-68—267       $US562,500
T7        Minjee Lee                   67-65-70-69—271      
T9        Hannah Green              69-67-69-67—272      
T16      Stephanie Kyriacou      69-67-70-68—274      
T52      Hira Naveed                 71-69-70-70—280      
MC       Cassie Porter                69-72—141
MC       Grace Kim                    71-73—144
MC       Karis Davidson             75-71—146
MC       Gabriela Ruffels           74-75—149
MC       Fiona Xu (NZ)               77-73—150

DP World Tour
Volvo China Open
Enhance Anting GC, Shanghai, China
1          Ashun Wu                    68-70-67-65—270       €381,213.83
T15      Elvis Smylie                  67-70-71-70—278       €30,317.71
T20      Kazuma Kobori (NZ)     67-70-70-72—279       €26,460.72
T36      Daniel Hillier (NZ)         68-69-75-71—283       €14,575.82
T43      Jason Scrivener            67-71-73-73—284       €11,660.66
MC       George Worrall            74-74—148

Korn Ferry Tour
LECOM Suncoast Classic
Lakewood National Golf Club (Commander Cse), Lakewood Ranch, Florida
1          Neal Shipley                 64-68-70-64—266       $US180,000
T57      Harry Hillier (NZ)          69-68-71-71—279       $4,130
MC       Rhein Gibson               66-73—139
MC       Harrison Endycott        70-73—143

HotelPlanner Tour
Abu Dhabi Challenge
Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE
1          Renato Paratore           69-63-65-66—263       €42,210.53
MC       Coby Carruthers (a)      69-72—141
MC       Hayden Hopewell        71-71—142
MC       Jye Pickin                     71-72—143
MC       Sam Jones (NZ)            75-71—146
WD      Danny List