JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Australian Hannah Green played lights out on Moving Day at the Mizuho Americas Open, carding a bogey-free, 9-under 63 at Liberty National Golf Club to vault from T31 into solo second with 18 holes to play in Jersey City, N.J.
Green kicked off the week with a pair of ho-hum 71s, rounds that collectively saw her make one double bogey, three bogeys and seven birdies on Thursday and Friday in the Garden State. Determined to improve upon those so-so scores on Moving Day, the 27-year-old came out swinging in the third round, blitzing Liberty National with a mistake-free barrage of birdies in cloudy, quiet conditions.
She parred her first two holes of the day before grabbing a birdie on the par-4 3rd hole to move to 3-under, picking up a pair of back-to-back birdies on holes six and seven to get to 5-under overall. The five-time LPGA Tour winner then put her head down and charged forward as she made the turn, putting on an absolute clinic on the back nine at Liberty National.
Green made another set of back-to-back birdies on the par-5 10th and par-3 11th holes, now sitting at 7-under with seven holes to play. She struck again with a birdie on the par-5 13th hole and then rattled off three consecutive birdies on holes 15, 16 and 17 before parring 18 to post a 9-under 63 that broke the 18-hole tournament scoring record at the Mizuho Americas Open.
“It did feel like autopilot for a little bit there, which is very nice. Now I put myself hopefully in contention for Sunday,” said Green. “I feel like I've been able to glue things together. Last week, I couldn't keep up with the girls. On the greens is where I lost a lot of shots. Today, I hit it close enough to be able to hole putts, which was nice. I didn't actually hole anything longer than 15 feet, so hitting it very well, so that was very nice.”
The Aussie has been playing some strong golf in 2024, earning two victories at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore and then successfully defending a title for the first time in her career a few weeks ago at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro at Wilshire Country Club. Excluding her two victories, she has finished inside the top 25 two other times, doing so at the Ford Championship presented by KCC (T21) and at last week’s Cognizant Founders Cup (T18) at Upper Montclair Country Club.
While Nelly Korda’s five straight LPGA Tour victories have slightly eclipsed Green’s success so far this season, she’ll now have a chance on Sunday to capture her third title of the year, putting her within striking distance of the American’s 2024 win total. It’s a spot she’s incredibly pleased to be in after making just eight starts this year on Tour, and Green will look to hang onto Saturday’s momentum for as long as possible with more major championship golf coming up quickly.
“I think Grant Boone said something last week like I'm the next person in line behind Nelly Korda,” said Green. “I was like, ‘Yes.’ Because right now, Nelly is very much out of reach of getting world No. 1. I still want to get into the top five in the world now that I got into the top 10. I want to keep pushing, not get too ahead of myself. It's nice to be able to be in form. We've got a really good stretch of events coming up, and I hope I can be more in contention for the majors coming up.
“The bad rounds have been better this year because you're always going to have those rounds. And making sure that you don't make silly mistakes. That's probably been the difference this year.”
This week’s Mizuho Americas Open is Green’s first time competing at Liberty National Golf Club, and if her Saturday 63 is any indication, the 27-year-old has now figured out how to have success at this venue, lessons she’ll apply to the final round in Jersey City, N.J., as she works to collect another 2024 title.
But Green isn’t too stressed about once again being in contention on the final day of a tournament, having something else on her mind to think about.
Her husband, Jarryd Felton, to whom Green got married on January 19 of this year, will arrive next week to spend some time with his bride traveling around the United States, something that Green has been looking forward to recently, having not seen her husband for a couple of months while competing on the LPGA Tour. The old adage says that happiness off the golf course often brings success on it, something it seems that Green is a case in point for in 2024.
“Because I've had so many great things happen outside of golf, it has reflected on the play this year,” said Green. “My husband is coming out next week, so he'll be out for the next five weeks. That has been really nice to look forward to. I haven't seen him since before Palos Verdes. When things are going well, usually things in your life are going well, and vice versa. At the moment, I'm in a very good spot, both on and off the course.”
Green will be working to stay in that good spot as she battles it out in the final round at Liberty National, trying to recreate the magic she conjured up on Moving Day as she fights for her sixth career Tour title. And while it will take something special to track down an unflappable Korda, who leads by two at 13-under, the Australian is more than ready to tackle the challenge on Sunday at the Mizuho Americas Open.
“I actually have no idea what the weather is like tomorrow,” said Green. “This morning, because I teed off early, I really had no wind to contend with. Obviously, a later tee time might be a little bit different. Might not be able to have nine birdies. I’m sure there will be a lot of low scores coming in (today) so see where I sit myself. Hope I'm not too far back and (I will) just keep doing what I did today.”
Someone call the fire department because @hannahgreengolf is on fire 🔥🧑🚒 pic.twitter.com/Qyger1ZcoU
— LPGA (@LPGA) May 18, 2024
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