Hannah Green leads at the midway mark of the Australian WPGA Championship after firing a second round 67 (-4) to move two shots clear in Queensland.
Green, a seven-time LPGA winner, is chasing a hat-trick of victories this week having claimed her home open last week and the HSBC Women’s World Championship three weeks ago.
Playing alongside compatriot Steph Kyriacou and New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey – both close friends – and trailing Scotland’s Kelsey Macdonald by one shot before the start of play, Green resumed business on Friday carding birdies at the 2nd, 3rd and 5th to storm into the outright lead.
A brief hiccup came a hole later when the Aussie found water at the par-3 6th dropping two shots. But Green bounced back in style carding an excellent eagle at the 7th after hitting it to seven-feet with her second shot.
Another birdie followed at the 8th as Green went out in 33 shots. On to the back nine and the one-time Major winner’s rollercoaster round continued as she bogeyed the 11th before rolling in a 55-feet monster birdie at the 13th. Another dropped shot followed at the 15th with Green birdying the par-5 18th for a round of 67 (-4).
“It was definitely a rollercoaster, that’s for sure,” the 29-year-old said. “It was nice to get the eagle on the par-5 after making a double on the par-3. Hopefully I can go back to playing a bit more boring golf. Bogey-free was nice yesterday, so that’s what I’m going to try and do this weekend.
“I feel like I’m probably putting more pressure on myself as I am obviously on such a hot run. Perhaps if I didn’t win the last two events, I would maybe fly under the radar a little bit more than I have obviously winning my last two tournaments. I think we still have a really strong LET field, so it’s not like I have it easy this weekend. There’s going to be a lot of good players behind me that are going to be chasing me and probably have less pressure on themselves.”
Green sits two shots clear of England’s Meghan MacLaren heading into the weekend at Sanctuary Cove Golf & Country Club.
MacLaren, a three-time Ladies European Tour (LET) winner, continued her excellent record in Australia following up yesterday’s 66 (-5) with a 68 (-3) in the Queensland sun. This scorecard included one dropped shot plus a birdie finish at the par-5 18th after reaching the green in two.
All three of MacLaren’s LET victories have come Down Under with the Englishwoman also recording a T2 at the Australian Women’s Classic two weeks ago. She is looking forward to an exciting weekend ahead at Sanctuary Cove Golf & Country Club.
“It’s been amazing,” MacLaren said, who earned her full LET playing rights back at Q-School in December. “This is where I expect myself to be. So you maybe don’t enjoy it as much as you would think when I compare it to where I have been over the past couple of years.
“The very first time I came out here [to Australia], I feel like I knew I was going to like it. It just suits my personality – the culture, coffee’s unbelievable. And then I think when I got my first win out here [in 2018], that’s just obviously solidified the whole thing. I feel like the people have really got behind me as well. So it’s just somewhere I feel good.”
In solo third sits Germany’s Alexandra Försterling on seven-under par. The four-time LET winner went bogey-free on Friday carding one eagle – her fifth of the Aussie swing – while also carding three birdies for a round of 66 (-5).
Försterling is edging closer to her very best this month having finished T5 at the Ford Women’s NSW Open, T38 at the Australian Women’s Classic and T17 at the Women’s Australian Open.
“I’m really happy,” the German said. “I actually sprained my neck yesterday, like five minutes before the round, and then I shot two-under which I was very surprised and very happy about. Today it’s a lot better and now I could finally play like normal.
“I just want to keep it going like I did today, try to trust my game at the moment, trust my long game. I would say that’s my strength at the moment and really just try to have fun and stay in the moment and enjoy every bit of it.”
Four players sit fourth on six-under par, a quartet which includes the in-form Casandra Alexander from South Africa, Italy’s Alessandra Fanali, Switzerland’s Vanessa Knecht and Spain’s Harang Lee.
Five players round off the top-10 in a tie for eighth on five-under par. This group includes Order of Merit winner Shannon Tan from Singapore, Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux, Australia’s Hannah Reeves, England’s Caley McGinty and India’s Hitaashee Bakshi.
Following 36 holes of action in Queensland, the cut fell at two-over par with 68 players making it through to the weekend. This includes Australian amateur Raegan Denton, our hole-in-one heroine from last week, who carded a 68 (-3) on Thursday to safely make it through to the weekend.
The third round of the Australian WPGA Championship gets underway tomorrow at 6:40 local time. Watch live and can follow along with the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram and X and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube. #AusWPGA
