Hannah Green continues late season improvement with runner-up finish in KL
Hannah Green file photo courtesy of USGA
Hannah Green has continued her return to late LPGA season form with a share of the runner-up place at the Maybank Championship at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club in Malaysia today.
Green was tied for the lead through 72 holes with the eventual winner, Miya Yamashita of Japan and former Australian Amateur Champion, Hye-Jin Choi of Korea, but when Yamashita birdied the first extra hole she has recorded her second LPGA victory to go with her AIG Women’s Open Championship earlier this year and she will improve on her current 6th place in the Rolex Rankings.
Yamashita, a six-time winner on the Japan LPGA Tour, where she played most of her golf before joining the LPGA Tour this year, produced a final round of 65 after beginning the final round eight shots behind the 54-hole leader Choi.
Green added another US$237,000 for her share of second place and takes her LPGA Tour earnings beyond US$7.5 million.
Green had been on a run of poor results until the recent BMW Ladies Championship, where she finished 5th, and was then part of the Australian side to win the International Crown event in Korea last week.
“Last couple weeks I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball the best I have all year, so that’s been nice, to have that confidence off the tee instead of having to be forced to layup, things like that,” said Green earlier in the week.
“I have, yeah, four or five people from Australia that follow me in Singapore and then here in Malaysia, so it’s nice to have them. They let me know if it’s a good shot on those kind of blind greens.
“My husband (Jarryd Felton) also just flew in yesterday, so it’s nice to have him here.
“But I don’t know. Just I really enjoy coming to Malaysia. It’s, again, almost like my home event. It’s only a six-hour flight from Perth where I live and also the same time zone. I also call this another home event.”
Lydia Ko was the next best of the Australasians when she finished in a share of 8th place.
The LPGA will complete its Asian swing next week when it plays the Toto Classic in Japan before heading back to the US for two events culminating at the CME Tour Championship in Florida on November 20th.
