Hannah Green defeated Jin Hee Im and Sei Young Kim on the first playoff hole to win the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. This is her fourth win across two tours this season. She also made history as the first player to win the JM Eagle LA Championship three times.
After two rounds of 65 (-7) to start her tournament, Sei Young Kim led the field going into the final round. Green, Suvichaya Vinijchaitham, Jessica Porvasnik and Ina Yoon trailed Kim by two shots. After a front nine of 37 (+1), Green made five birdies in six holes to share the lead. Im shot a 67 (-5), and Kim shot a 70 (-2) to tie Green at the top of the leaderboard at 17-under for the tournament. Green made a birdie on the par-4 18th on the first playoff hole to win the tournament.
Green has arguably been the best player in the world for the past few months. Green won the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore in March on the LPGA Tour. She also won the Women’s Australian Open and Australian WPGA Championship on the Ladies European Tour shortly after. Green said she was ready going into this week.
“I knew coming into JM Eagle that I was feeling comfortable with my game, and obviously, I had a good result here last year,” she said.
Green also talked about her mindset during the round.
“I think because I felt like I was out of the tournament, I kind of changed my mindset and was actually able to make some birdies. Yeah, it was kind of a crazy day,” she said.
After a disappointing weekend. Kim was brief after losing in the playoff to Green.
“Just a little disappointed because I had a good chance for the win. She’s playing well. Strong finish on the back nine. Yeah, she deserves that. It’s kind of exciting for next week,” she said.
Asterisk Talley, a sponsor’s invite for this week and only 17 years old, had another good finish on the LPGA Tour. She finished T13 in her second appearance on tour this season. Talley was pleased with her performance.
“It’s great just to get to play with the pros and get some learning experience, especially for myself, and getting to see other players on this course. I was happy to be able to bounce back after those four bogeys on the front and then just be able to shoot a good round in the end and kind of fight back at the end,” she said.
After the announcement on Saturday by JM Eagle CEO Walter Wang that the purse for this week would increase by $1 million, the tournament is now the highest purse on tour excluding the majors and the CME Group Tour Championship. Green took home $712,500 in prize money and 500 points in the season-long competition, Race to CME Globe.
The LPGA Tour will host its first major of the season next week at the Chevron Championship. The tournament will be held at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, Texas. Mao Saigo will look to defend her title against the world’s best.
