Hannah Green has become only the fourth Australian and first in a dozen years to win the Women's Australian Open, capturing the title by one stroke at Adelaide's Kooyonga Golf Club. The 29-year-old West Australian's victory capped a remarkable fortnight that has seen her win two major tournaments on opposite sides of the world.
Green said winning her home championship felt comparable to her major championship win, the 2019 Women's PGA Championship. "I have said before that winning your own championship is like winning a major and I still feel that way," she explained, adding that the victory ranks equally with her seven LPGA Tour titles. The emotional weight of claiming a national open on home soil reflected the weight of expectation she carried into the tournament.
The final round at Kooyonga tested Green's composure in ways that went beyond typical tournament pressure. Cassie Porter's stunning course-record 10-under 62 and Agathe Laisne's five-under 67 created jangled nerves for Green, with the West Australian joining Karrie Webb, Jane Crafter and Jan Stephenson as Australian Open winners. Green produced a clutch 15-foot downhill birdie putt on the par-5 16th to create a one-shot buffer, then benefited from some fortune at the 17th. After pulling her tee shot into a large fairway bunker, she had good fortune when her shot from the sand hit a large bunker-side bush but deflected onto the fairway.
The 18th delivered one final moment of tension. Her tee shot sprayed right but veered from a mound to the fairway in what she described as a "member's bounce"." A steady two-putt secured the title and the trophy known as the Patricia Bridges Bowl.
Other Australian major winners struggled across four days; Minjee Lee signed for a one-under 71 to finish three over for the tournament, while Grace Kim made belated ground on Sunday with a five-under 67, finishing three under. The gap between Green's form and that of fellow major champions underscores her current standing in women's golf.
Green's victory also saw her move up to ninth on the Women's Rolex World Rankings, joining Lee inside the top ten. The A$1.7 million prize fund represents the largest of the season on the WPGA Tour of Australasia, reflecting the significance Adelaide placed on hosting one of the women's golf calendar's most important events.
Green reflected on the internal pressure she places on herself when competing at home. That pressure, rather than derailing her, seemed to sharpen her focus. Her back-to-back victories in Singapore and Adelaide position her among the form players in women's professional golf heading into the remainder of the season.