A birdie on the par-3 18th hole at Wilshire Country Club allowed Australia’s Hannah Green to claim her spot in a three-woman playoff at the LPGA’s JM Eagle L.A. Championship along with India’s Aditi Ashok and China’s Xiyu Lin.
Then a birdie on the par-3 18th allowed her to advance to a second hole, along with Lin
And while a birdie on the par-3 18th would have clinched the title for the 26-year-old Australian, a par did the trick as Green claimed her third career LPGA victory.
“It’s been a long few years,” said an emotional Green after the win. “I played really well last year, but getting across the line has been difficult.”
Green stayed patient on Sunday as birdie putts were hard to come by early. After 14 straight pars to open the round, she finally made a birdie on the par-5 15th hole. Then on the 18th, she hit her tee shot to six-feet to close out a two-under 69 for a nine-under 275 total.
Both Ashok and Lin also birdied the 72nd hole, to send the event into a playoff. Ashok missed a 12-foot birdie try on the first extra hole as she was attempting to become the first woman from India to win an LPGA event. Lin, meanwhile, rolled in a six-footer while Green made a four-footer to get to playoff hole No. 2.
Lin’s tee shot this time came up short in a greenside bunker, and she just got her ball on to the green with her second shot. Green cozied her birdie effort to 18 inches and when Lin couldn’t hole her par saving putt from 25 feet, Green had the title wrapped up.
With the victory, Green grabbed the first-place check of $450,000 from the overall purse of $3 million. Here’s the prize money payouts for everybody who made the cut this week in L.A. Come back shortly after the tournament and we’ll update the names and the individual paydays.
Win: Hannah Green, -9, $450,000
P-2: Xiyu Lin, -9 $242,747
P-2: Aditi Ashok, -9 $242,747
T-4: Ayaka Furue, -8, $142,497
T-4: Ruoning Yin, -8, $142,497
T-6: Nelly Korda, -7, $89,093
T-6: Hae Ran Ryu, -7, $89,093
T-6: Cheyenne Knight, -7, $89,093
T-9: Jaravee Boonchant, -6, $65,472.50
T-9: Alison Lee, -6, $65,472.50