Hannah Green will make a triumphant return to Western Australia next month to compete at the Nexus Risk TSA Group WA Open at Royal Perth.
Fresh from securing her 2018 LPGA Tour card through an outstanding rookie professional season on the secondary Symetra Tour in the United States, the 20-year-old will take on the men at the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia event from October 19-22.
“I’m really excited to play with the men in October,” Green said. “I have been playing well this year so I feel like I have a good chance of making the cut!
“Luckily Royal Perth is a shorter and quite narrow course – I think that will help me a lot. I can’t wait to play a tournament in front of my friends and family.”
Green confirmed her status as one of the brightest young female talents in the world, and most significantly a place on the LPGA Tour for next season, when she claimed a record-breaking victory at the El Dorado Shootout on the Symetra Tour last weekend. It was Green’s second victory on the second-tier circuit this season – after winning the Sara Bay Classic in April – and was emphatically confirmed with a final-round course-record 64 at Mystic Creek in Arkansas.
With her No.1 goal for the season achieved, the Mount Lawley member admitted she can now relax and focus on the end of the US season – she is fourth on the Symetra Tour moneylist – before returning to Perth for the 93rd staging of the WA Open.
“It was awesome to get a win before the Symetra season finishes,” Green said. “I’m so pleased I was able to secure my tour card. It was sooner than I expected and I feel like there has been a weight lifted off my shoulders.
“I plan on playing the last three events and it would be awesome to get my name higher on the moneylist. It will be great to return home not only with another trophy but with my LPGA tour card for 2018.”
Green will also welcome some home comforts after spending the year driving across the United States from event to event on the Symetra Tour.
“Royal Perth is about 10 minutes from my house,” she said. “That is going to be a lot different to my year so far. I’m looking forward to that too!”
Green is the latest in a growing list of talent produced from Western Australia – along with the likes of Minjee Lee and last year’s WA Open champion Curtis Luck.
GolfWA chief executive Gary Thomas believes all sport fans in WA will welcome the chance to watch another of this state’s rising talents test herself against the best players on the PGA Tour of Australasia, including 2017 ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth champion Brett Rumford.
“Hannah has enjoyed an exceptional first year as a professional and everyone at GolfWA could not be prouder of the results that she has achieved,” Thomas said. “This will be a great opportunity for West Australian golf fans, and all sporting fans, to come out and see Hannah and appreciate her talent alongside the best men’s players in the country.
“Royal Perth should suit her too with its tight fairways demanding the precision and consistency that has been a hallmark of her young career so far.”
Simon Butterly, general manager of tournaments for the PGA of Australia, which oversees the PGA Tour of Australasia, added: “Australia has so many talented young players and Hannah Green is certainly one of the brightest emerging players having recently secured her LPGA card.
“As an amateur the WA Open provided a learning opportunity for Hannah to hone her craft in a professional tournament. Now that she has turned pro we are delighted that Hannah will be joining us again on the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia supporting her state Open.
“Golf is a wonderful and unique sport where men and women of all ages and abilities can play together. We are pleased to help demonstrate this at the elite level and wish Hannah the best of luck at the WA Open.”
