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Green hopes to bring winning form home

3 minute read

Hannah Green is among the star turns in a stacked women's Vic Open field at 13th Beach.

HANNAH GREEN of Australia plays a shot during the ISPS Handa Vic Open at 13th Beach Golf Club in Geelong, Australia.
HANNAH GREEN of Australia plays a shot during the ISPS Handa Vic Open at 13th Beach Golf Club in Geelong, Australia. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

Hannah Green is learning to embrace everything that comes with being just the third Australian woman to win a golfing major.

The West Australian's triumph at last year's Women's PGA Championship came somewhat out of the blue, 13 years after her mentor Karrie Webb won her seventh and final major.

Just as importantly for Green, she was able to back up her breakthrough victory two months with her second LPGA title at the Portland Classic.

Ranked 22nd in the world and with a skyrocketing public profile, the 23-year-old will be one of the star turns at the $1.5 million Vic Open at 13th Beach, which is being co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour for the second-straight year.

"I've had some attention when I've come home to play before but certainly not as much as this week," Green told AAP on Wednesday.

"It's probably more exciting than it is nerve wracking at the moment because I haven't actually teed it up yet.

"But it still sounds funny when people call me the most recent major champion in the field.

"Sometimes people can embrace it too much but because it all happened so quickly and out of the blue I didn't embrace it enough.

"It's nice to be out here and recognised by the men and the women this week."

Green is among 11 women's major winners in a stacked field at 13th Beach.

World No.8 Jeong Eun Lee6 from South Korea is the highest-ranked player at the tournament, one spot ahead of two-time Vic Open champion Minjee Lee from Australia.

After the successes of 2019, and mindful of another busy program in 2020 which includes a probable Olympic debut in Tokyo, Green took a longer than usual break.

The Vic Open is her first competitive hit-out in two-and-a-half months.

"I felt I wouldn't have been ready to play golf two or three weeks ago," she said.

"Hopefully I'm not too rusty this week.

"I've been trying to play as much golf as possible, I've probably practised more this off-season than I ever have.

I've had some great results here.

"Unfortunately last year I didn't make the weekend but I've had a third and a runner-up finish so I know what this course can do to you, it's not always as lovely as it is today.

"We just have to be really patient out there."

The tournament begins on Thursday.

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