21 Nov 2024 | Professional golf |

Aussies on Tour: Green chases record prize

by Martin Blake

Hannah Green LPGA image
Hannah Green has won more than $US 2 million in 2024. Photo: Getty

Hannah Green may have had a Greg Norman Medal hung around her neck this week but by Thursday, she will have reverted to normal routines and the grind of the tour.

Green, the world No. 5 who has won three times this year, tees it up in Florida for the biggest winner’s pay cheque in women’s golf history starting early Friday AET.

The CME Group Tour Championship is the finale of the LPGA Tour season and carries $US 11 million prize pool and a $US 4 million first prize cheque, which is bigger even than the US Women’s Open first prize. The runner-up gets $1 million and even last place in the 60-player field is worth $55,000.

Beyond this weekend she will be on a flight to Melbourne and the ISPS HANDA Australian Open next week. Needless to say, it has been a marathon rather than a sprint, but the big prizes are coming around.

The 27-year-old from Perth had a rare missed cut last weekend but she will remain one of the favourites in Florida this week – albeit that everyone will be chasing Nelly Korda, whose win last week was her seventh for the season.

Green is one of two players, with China’s Ruoning Yin, to have won three tournaments this year.

She will be joined by Minjee Lee, Grace Kim and Gabriela Ruffels on tour championship debut at Tiburon Golf Club while New Zealand has Lydia Ko in the field.

No Australian has won the tour championship since its inception in 2011, although Green was runner-up to Jin Young Ko from South Korea in 2020.

The LPGA Tour has a different system to the PGA Tour for its season-ender, with the top 60 players on points qualifying, and the points then reset, which gives everyone a chance of winning the main prize.

That includes the likes of Australia’s Lee, who only confirmed her place in the field by playing well in The Annika last week after one of her most quiet years. She has played in the tournament every year since 2015 but has not had a better finish than her tie for fifth in 2021.

The DP World Tour is in Australia for the next two weeks, beginning with the BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland.

Meanwhile a bunch of Australians are teeing it up in the Hong Kong Open, part of the International Series, on the Asian Tour this week. Round 1 tee times AEDT

LPGA Tour CME Group Tour Championship Ritz Carlton Resort, Naples, Florida 12.15 am Minjee Lee 12.55 am Grace Kim 2.15 am Gabriela Ruffels 4.15 am Hannah Green 4.25 am Lydia Ko (NZ) Defending champion: Amy Yang Past Aussie winners: Lydia Ko (NZ) 2014, 2022 Prizemoney $US 11 million TV times: Live Fox Sports 506 6am-9am Friday-Monday

PGA TOUR RSM Classic Sea Island Golf Club, Georgia 5.23 am Aaron Baddeley 5.45 am* Tim Wilkinson (NZ) Defending champion: Ludvig Aberg Past Aussie winners: nil Prizemoney $US 7.6 million TV times: Live Fox Sports 503 4am-8am Friday-Monday

Asian Tour Hong Kong Open Hong Kong Golf Club 9.45 am Maverick Antcliff 9.55* Jed Morgan 10.05 am Marcus Fraser 10.05 am* Matt Jones 10.15 am Kevin Yuan 10.25* Ben Campbell (NZ) 10.35 am Zach Murray 10.35 am* Jack Thompson 10.45 am Andrew Dodt 10.45 am * Scott Hend 11.15 am* Aaron Wilkin 11.35 am* Douglas Klein 2.15 pm* Shane Kuiti (NZ) 2.55 pm Wade Ormsby 3.35 pm* Deyen Lawson 3.25 pm Sam Brazel 3.35 pm Justin Warren Defending champion: Ben Campbell (NZ) Past Aussie winners: Ben Campbell (NZ) 2023, Wade Ormsby 2017, 2020, Sam Brazel 2016, Scott Hend 2014, Frank Nobilo (NZ) 1997, Greg Norman 1979, 1983, Frank Phillips 1966, 1973, Walter Godfrey 1972, Randall Vines 1968, Peter Thomson 1960, 1965, 1967, Len Woodward 1962, Kel Nagle 1961. Prizemoney $US 2 million

Japan Golf Tour Casio World Open Kochi Kuroshio Country Club 12.50 pm Michael Hendry Defending champion: Taichi Nabetani Past Aussie winners: David Smail (NZ) 2012, 2014 Prizemoney ¥40 million

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