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Hannah Green and Sentosa Golf Club’s Tanjong Course in Singapore are a perfect match. The Australian won the 2026 HSBC Women’s World Championship by one stroke over Auston Kim. It was the second time she won the event in three years. (Green was the 2024 HSBC Women’s World Championship winner.)
Green’s week was all it needed to be: consistent and steady. She got the tournament started with a 1-under-par 71. A round like that on the first day is nothing to be shy about, especially when it was a fight. Green battled through two bogeys and a double bogey to post her 1-under score. She carded three birdies and an eagle to bounce back. These rounds allow you to see the course in a tournament environment and get your bearings.
This experience proved well for the 29-year-old from Perth. Green shot a 66 and 68 in rounds two and three, respectively. Over the two rounds, Green only carded two bogeys: one in round two and one in round three. Her seven birdies in round two and five birdies in round three helped her to propel up the leaderboard.
Green’s final-round 69 (-3) was enough to edge Kim, who ended up shooting a 5-under-par 67—the lowest round on Sunday. It was a close one, but Green held on thanks to her squeaky-clean front nine.
Green definitely set herself up to contend over the weekend. Each of her four rounds were under par. Her Saturday 68 was a much better setup for Sunday’s final round than Kim’s 1-over-par 73. Kim had a bigger hill to climb from her three back, 8-under-par tournament total.
“Yeah, overall, I think it was a really solid week. A great way to start the year,” Kim said of her tournament finish on March 1 during a post-tournament press conference.
“I hit a lot of bad shots but I also hit a lot of good ones, and it was really confidence boosting. I hit all these bad shots, and I didn’t feel like I had anything close to my A Game, but I was still able to pull off a result like this and play some really solid golf.”
And she’s right; Kim has a lot to be proud of. She came out of the gate with a fiery 66 (-6), which was the best round of the day. Her 3-under-par 69 in round two was a good insurance score, enabling her to play the weekend. If it weren’t for the struggle in round three, we may have seen Kim’s name at the very top of the leaderboard at the end of the tournament.
Green may not have anticipated Kim being the player to challenge her lead; she played with Minjee Lee in the final pairing after ending the third round atop the leaderboard together at 11-under-par.
“I knew that there wasn’t probably going to be much conversation between us perhaps early days depending on how we were both playing, and I think I got off to a good start and Minjee was scrambling to make some pars,” Green said of the final pairing on March 1 in her post-win press conference.
Lee shot an even par 72 to stay at 11-under-par, which kept her three back of Green’s 14-under-par tournament total. It wasn’t her best effort on Sunday, but she still found positives to take away from the week. Her second-round 64 (-8) was absolutely electric; that bogey-free round included six birdies and an eagle.
“I think going into the week, I just, like, my game was all quite there. I think I’m proud of myself for sticking in there and still posting a score when I had to,” Lee said on March 1 during her post-tournament press conference.
“Yeah, I feel like this sets up for a nice start to the year and a good year ahead. So I feel like I can take away a lot more positives than negatives from this whole week.”
While Lee was just getting into rhythm for her 2026 season at the HSBC, Green continued her streak of hot golf from the previous tournament in Thailand. She finished in seventh place at the Honda LPGA Thailand with four rounds in the 60s. Despite her consistent play, though, Green still felt a difference between the two tournaments.
“Yeah, I felt like it was quite a big switch coming from last week to this week,” Green reflected.
“In Thailand, you have to make a lot of birdies, but in Singapore, you have to make key pars. It was weird to go from a mindset of going straight for the pin to hitting greens and fairways as much as possible.”
We’ll see if Green can keep her momentum through the rest of the 2026 season. See you next week, golf fans.
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Five at The IX: Snippets from Hannah Green’s post-win press conference at the 2026 HSBC Women’s World Championship
THE MODERATOR: Hannah Green, winner of the 2026 HSBC Women’s World Amateur Championship. This makes you a two-time winner at this event. Can you just talk about what that means to you.
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I feel like it’s kind of crazy. I felt like I had a really good preseason. I had a good week last week but to say that I’m champion so early in the season, is kind of strange. But I also felt like I playing really solid all week. So I feel like I’m deserving of the trophy.
THE MODERATOR: It’s been almost 500 days since your last win up until today. What does it mean to you to be back in the winner’s circle?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I felt like I got off to a good start last year. Had kind of a funny summer of golf and played well at the end of the year.
Obviously last week I came in in the Top 10 and that was a nice way to see how my form was coming into this week. But yeah, I didn’t realize it had been so long.
I felt honestly really nervous out there. I was talking to my caddie, husband, and saying, like I don’t know why I’m feeling this way. I haven’t really felt like that in a while but I guess if it’s been that long perhaps that’s why. I felt like I was hitting a lot of good shots. I just kind of had to stay patient. That’s kind of what I did.
Q. You mentioned earlier that you were feeling nervous out there. It didn’t seem like it. What did you do to kind of help settle those nerves or not let those nerves affect you?
HANNAH GREEN: I think I just acknowledged that I was feeling nervous. I felt like a lot of people think that they are always bad things but if you don’t experience nerves, there’s probably not enough care factor. I kind of just told Jared a couple times that I wasn’t feeling comfortable and he said take a deep breath or just have something to eat or have even a sip of water.
So I was just trying to, yeah, acknowledge that and kind of make sure that I wasn’t too calm and not motivated enough. You know, wanted to continue to put-my-foot-on-the-pedal-type of thing.
But yeah, the shot into 18, I didn’t really know how far it was going to go just because I know I was excited and nervous and all at the same time. So even though I unfortunately three-putted, I feel like it was probably better than being in the back bunker.
But I have not played with that type of adrenaline in a long time. So I think we handled it really well.
Q. You hit some pretty amazing goals over the last few years and I know you’re a big supporter of the young girls coming through. What would you tell your younger receive right now?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I guess that’s a funny one because when I was first playing amateur golf I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to do this for a living. I felt like I was kind of not always winning tournaments as an amateur. I was behind Minjee and a couple other players, but I felt like my year on the Epson Tour was helpful for me and I was able to win three times out there and get some confidence to come out to the LPGA.
I felt like perhaps if I went straight from Q-School to LPGA I wouldn’t have felt that way. So Epson Tour was a great place. The LET is also a great place. I think you just have to get used being away from home.
As much as I love Australia, we unfortunately don’t have enough events to do it full-time. So yeah, it can be a tough lifestyle being away from home. But putting yourself out there and giving it your best shot, hopefully we can get some more Australians on tour. I think we had seven or eight this week, which is the most we’ve ever had.
So hopefully more Aussie flags on the leaderboard.
Q. With this being the 18th, 16 of the winners of this tournament have been major winners. Can you talk about what it is about the course and tournament that throws up such a high level of winner?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I felt like it was quite a big switch coming from last week to this week. In Thailand you have to make a lot of birdies, but in Singapore you have to make key pars. It was weird to go from a mindset of going straight for the pin to hitting greens and fairways as much as possible.
On the bunker that they have added on left has made it a much more difficult golf hole. Where they put the tee box it wasn’t always able to be cleared on the left. But there’s just a lot of holes where, yeah, it’s difficult off the tee box and I think that’s something I don’t always do so well. But for some reason here in Singapore I’ve been able to pull it off. Yeah, it’s a beast of a course. I mean, yes, I shot 13-under par, 14-under par but I felt like I had to switch on that entire time.
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