Perth’s Hannah Green has made a superb start to her career as an LPGA Tour member, finishing in a share of 11th in the Bahamas.
Green, 21, closed the weather-shortened event with a fine three-under-par 70 to reach four under and pocket a cheque for almost $US22,000 on debut after winning promotion from last year’s Symetra Tour.
“(I’m) really happy with my LPGA debut, finishing T11,” Green tweeted.
“(They were) tough conditions with delays and the wind, but a pretty cool place to start.”
The result gave the West Australian the early lead in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year standings.
Green, along with Melbourne’s Su Oh, who finished in a share of 54th at three over, were beginning to fret that they might not make it home in time to take their place in this week’s Oates Vic Open.
But organisers managed to complete the tournament, even though shortened to three rounds, in near darkness despite losing more than a day and a half of play to foul weather.
American Brittany Lincicome closed birdie-birdie after the sun had set to successfully defend her title from Taiwanese young gun Wei-Ling Hsu, who’s on her way to Adelaide for the upcoming ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open.
Lincicome closed with a stunning 66, but actually shot a remarkable 10 under on the final day as she had to finish nine holes of the second round first thing to even get into the mix.
Of the other Aussies in the field, Sarah Jane Smith was a victim of the wild weather in her closing 77 that left her T31 at even par, while Katherine Kirk was T58 at four over.