Hannah Green has already won twice on the LPGA Tour in 2019; she might not be done just yet.
Green, Perth’s 22-year-old sensation who won her first major this year, shot a bogey-free 67 to start the Toto Classic in Japan today.
She leads the field at five-under par along with Ai Suzuki of Japan.
Another Aussie, Minjee Lee, is just a shot back at four-under having finished runner-up in Taiwan last week.
The last leg of the Asian swing has been good for Green, who loves Japan. “I'm sure this weekend we'll have a lot of supporters,” she said after her round. “Just really nice to get on to the tee box and they're clapping. Makes you smile and gives you a little confidence for when you're about to hit the tee shot.”
Green was happy with her steadiness on the day. “It's been a while since I've had a bogey-free round,” she said. “Just very happy that I didn't have any bogeys and then I was like really consistent throughout the whole entire round.’’
The Mt Lawley product said she wanted to finish the year strongly. “A very great year for me obviously having two wins and a major championship,’’ she said. “I just wanted to make sure that during this Asia swing, even though there was no cut, that I didn't try and breeze my way through and just focus on finishing strong through the end of the year.
“So now being in this position, definitely want to continue and hopefully have a win here and then just a strong finish at CME, which will be a nice way to finish and go to the off-season.’’
The Toto Japan Classic is the last event of the regular-season. All that remains beyond this 54-hole tournament is the tour championship in Florida.