Australia’s two biggest stars in women’s golf, Hannah Green and Minjee Lee, fittingly shared the top Australian honours at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship one day before they were set to be confirmed as the country’s Olympic golf team.
Green (71) and Lee (74) finished four rounds out the Women’s PGA at Sahalee Country Club, near Seattle, at four-over-par in a tie for 24th, 11 shots behind the winner, South Korea’s Amy Yang.
“I played really well the first day, and today I had a good round, so that was really nice to finish the week off [with a 71],” Green said. “I really struggled on Friday adjusting to the firm greens. Sahalee has been a really big test for all of us. Even though the par 5s were gettable today, you still had to hit really good shots and leave yourself in the right side of the fairways. So, all in all, pretty pleased, going back to Australia next week and I’m excited to go home for a couple of weeks before Evian Championship [in France].”
Green said she had a “30-hour journey back to Australia” from Seattle but she was looking forward to being home in Perth for 10 days before flying to France. It will be her first time back in Australia since March. Since then, she has captured her fourth (HSBC Singapore) and fifth (LA Championship) LPGA Tour victories and has risen to world No.5. “I’m looking forward to going back. It’ll be a really quick turnaround, but I think it’ll be good for me mentally. It’s always nice to return home.”
When the Rolex women’s world rankings are published on Monday in the US, No.5 Green and No.10 Lee will be the top two Australians who qualify for the women’s golf team for the Olympics in Paris in early August. They will join Jason Day and Min Woo Lee as the Australian men’s team.
“Getting the opportunity in Tokyo was an amazing experience, albeit through COVID, so I’m super excited for Paris to be alongside Minjee as well, both from Perth and both played junior golf together,” Green said. “So it’s really cool for us to both be there, even her brother [Min Woo] is in the [men’s] team. I think we have really good vibes for the Olympics and I’m excited to get to [Olympic host golf course] Le Golf National.”
Meanwhile, Gabi Ruffels, the LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year points leader, was five shots further adrift of Green and Lee at Sahalee at nine-over as she shared 46th. Sydney’s Steph Kyriacou was a short further back in a tie for 52nd, while Grace Kim rounded out the Australian contingent at 11-over.
On the PGA Tour, Adam Scott was the top Australian at eight-under after he closed the Travelers Championship in Connecticut with a blistering 64 to surge to a tie for 39th. World No.1 Scottie Scheffler grabbed his sixth win of the year. Two shots further back of Scott was Jason Day, who tied 44th at six-under while Cameron Davis was tied 48th at five-under.
On LIV Golf, Cameron Smith was tied ninth at 10-under, nine shots behind winner Tyrrell Hatton. Marc Leishman was tied 18th (six-under) while Matt Jones shared 40th at two-under and Lucas Herbert was 48th at one-over.