Date: January 24, 2018
Author: Martin Blake

Green starts LPGA dream

 

For Hannah Green, the time is now. The young Western Australian spent all of 2017 positioning herself for a shot at the LPGA Tour, the biggest of the women’s tours and a worldwide extravaganza.

Having achieved that with three wins on the Symetra Tour in the United States, Green now has to step up to the higher level.

Perth’s young star begins her career as a fully-fledged LPGA Tour player in the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic beginning on Paradise Island in the Bahamas tomorrow.

She is one of five Australians in the field for the tour’s season-opener, along with fellow-WA player Minjee Lee, Victoria’s Su Oh and Queenslanders Sarah Jane Smith and Katherine Kirk.

The field is hot, with world No. 1 Shanshan Feng playing along with Lexi Thompson, the tour’s best player in 2017.

Green, 21, had a stellar amateur career before turning professional and travelling to America.

After the Bahamas she is returning to Australia for the VicOpen at 13th Beach Links, and also is playing the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open at Kooyonga in Adelaide next month.

All of the other remaining Australians will look to a strong season. Lee, also 21, had a solid 2017 without winning, Smith was remarkably consistent and Kirk won for the first time since 2010, while Oh was undertaking swing changes under Cam McCormick, the Australian coach of Jordan Spieth.