JM EAGLE LA CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 30, 2023

Hannah Green

Press Conference

Q. Welcome inside the media center here at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. Hannah, that was a whirlwind. Had to bury a 20-, 25-footer on the last hole in regulation to get to that playoff. Came up pretty clutch in the playoff. Tell me about the last 45 minutes, hour of your day here.

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, it went by very quickly, which is probably a good thing, just to be able to finish on 18 and then not have too long in 2009 the playoff, and obviously I holed a really good putt, so it was nice to have that momentum.

Yeah, if that putt didn't go in, I wouldn't be here right now. It was a really clutch birdie on the first time I played 18 and the second time, and I was lucky I just needed to make par on the last.

Q. What was going through your head over that 25-footer? That's a challenging putt on this poa annua.

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, pretty much all day I left every putt short. I was just -- I guess I knew how quick the greens were in previous years, and I was just frightened to give myself that four- or five-footer coming back, and instead I gave myself a three- or four-footer short. I knew I obviously needed to get it to the hole and I knew I needed to hit it a little bit harder than what I had all day. I don't often get my caddie to read my putt, but I pulled him in for the last hole, and we both saw the same line, so it was nice to have that confidence that I was seeing the correct line, and yeah, just stroked it and it went perfectly in the hole.

Q. Showed some emotion with Karen on Golf Channel. I know it's been a long few years out here on Tour. Played well but come up a couple short. What does it mean to get it done and hoist that first trophy since 2019?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I was so excited for 2020 and then obviously COVID happened, so it was really strange coming back to tournaments to defend with no spectators and obviously the COVID lifestyle. I guess I gave myself a couple of Jenny Ds in 2021. Last year I was close, but probably not as close as I have been before. I guess that's why I was tearing up after the round, just because I've had so many good results and that's why we work so hard is to be able to hoist a trophy. It just shows how much it means.

Q. I know one of the three is a major championship, but where does this one rank as far as the three wins?

HANNAH GREEN: So I said the first one was important, obviously a major championship. I said the second one was nearly just as big because then I proved to everyone and myself that I could back it up. But I think honestly this one is really important because I feel like this is just going to kick start remembering how to -- like learning to win. It's tough to win golf tournaments. Sometimes you can play your best golf and it not be good enough. You've just got to hang in there. I think this is honestly just as big as the first two.

Q. About halfway through the first tiebreaker, all of the caffeine and energy drinks that we downed basically wore off. Can you please talk about what it means to have such a tight cluster of athletes? How does that speak, because you were all vying for first place? How does that speak toward the talent in the LPGA?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, just look at the top of the leaderboard, the amount of countries that were up there today. All three of us played really well today. It's hard because there are -- we're friends, so we want to hoist that trophy, but we also want other people to do well.

I heard both of them make birdie on 18, and I knew that's what I needed to do. But yeah, it's tough to win out here. The caliber of golf has really improved, even in my five years of being on Tour.

Q. We saw the tears at the very end. Could you share a little bit if you want to, a little bit of the emotions that you were going through?

HANNAH GREEN: I had actually missed the cut last week at Chevron, and my other two wins that I had on Tour, I missed the weekend the week prior. Not that I want to miss cuts, but it has been some sort of a recipe to a win.

But I've had great results here. I came runner-up last year, third the year before, so I jokingly said I was going to come first this week. It's just nice to come back to a place where I've had confidence because I felt like I've had a slow start to the year, but obviously this really changes things.

Q. You still have your shoes on. Did you do the shoey thing?

HANNAH GREEN: I did not. It wasn't my suggestion. My caddie said that when we win next that he will do it, so I was kind of hoping that he could just do it and not me. But maybe that'll be after. We'll see.

Q. The club you hit on 18 every time?

HANNAH GREEN: 8-iron.

Q. Do you work with a sports psychologist? I'm just wondering if so, what you've talked about in terms of trying to get over that hurdle again.

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I actually just spoke to someone this week, Julie, who works with LPGA. I just felt like I was kind of not really in the right place leading into this year because I haven't had a quick start to the year like I have in other seasons. So I just wanted to pretty much chat to someone that I haven't spoken to before and just make sure that I'm not overthinking things.

We kind of, I guess, made a plan for a post-shot routine versus a pre-shot routine. I didn't have to do it too much because I played well this week, but I think just keeping things the same for when I play well and when I don't play so well is what we worked on. It's obviously paid off today.

Q. What is the post shot routine?

HANNAH GREEN: I guess when I'm not playing well, I tend to carry my golf club, whatever club that may be, off the tee, second shot, third shot, and I'll almost walk with it in my hand to the green. So straight away I have to give it to my caddie because I don't do that when I hit a good shot; I give it to him straight away. Just training your brain to think differently.

Q. How did you come to that discovery of the club situation?

HANNAH GREEN: I know I've always done it, but I knew that -- I guess my self-chat and my demeanor on the golf course looked different. I had my coach and my physio last week, and I don't know if it just was more pressure being a major championship, but I felt like I was a bit more down than if I was playing the same way. I just wanted to kind of acknowledge it and make sure that obviously it doesn't get any further.

Golf can be really frustrating, and sometimes showing emotion is a good thing, but just making sure that it doesn't get too deep and affect your next shot.

Q. This setup today, you made a lot of pars, 14 in a row. It was very kind of major-like. What does this win do for you going forward the rest of the year, especially with the poa greens up at Pebble Beach and stuff like that?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I'm super excited. I said to my team and my caddie, I feel like once I get over the hurdle of having my third win that that will just open doors because I was really nervous today. I hadn't been in that position for quite some time to be especially in a playoff to win a tournament. So when I holed that four-footer, I felt like I was literally shaking like crazy and you could see it visually. But I don't really know. Maybe I'll have a look at the footage. I don't really know.

I'm just really excited. Obviously it kind of frees up the rest of the year. Not that I'll do things too differently because I want to keep winning and have moments like these where I'm talking to you guys after tournaments, but we're pretty fortunate for the venues we get to play, so I'm excited for them.

Q. You had kind of an average round for most of the day. Were you surprised when you stepped to the 18th tee that you actually had a chance to force your way into a playoff?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I think when I got off the par-5, 13th, I saw someone at 10-under par, so at that stage I was at 7-under, and I thought there's no chance I'm even in it, but at Wilshire you can't put yourself out of it because 17 and 18 are both hard holes. Obviously I had a really good finish yesterday, 5-under through six holes, so I kind of was banking on that. But to hole that putt on 18 was huge. I knew that was to get into the playoff. So I'm just proud of myself with all the nerves that I had that I was able to capitalize on it and hole it.

Q. Obviously that putt was huge, but the up-and-down on 17 was equally big. Talk about that chip shot and what you had to do.

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I actually walked up with the putter and then I got there and I saw there was three sprinkler heads in my line, so I was like, aww, shit, I haven't hit a chip shot all day. I missed probably four greens but I was able to putt from each of them. They just basely missed so literally hadn't hit a chip in four or five hours, so I was like, I have no idea how this is going to come out.

Luckily it was actually sitting pretty well and it was all downgrain, so it wasn't too difficult a chip, but obviously under the circumstances it was still somewhat difficult, so I think that was just as big, having a tap-in par on 17.

Q. You had come close the previous two years here. What does it mean to get over the hump and win this title?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I felt like I had my crew that were out watching me all day, but once I got to 18 I felt like everyone was cheering my name a little bit louder. The members have been amazing to me here. It's such a special place, to play here in LA and have so many people come out, I'm really excited to come back and defend and hopefully keep putting my name on the trophy.

Q. This is the second Australian win here in the last three events on Tour. What does it mean to see Australian golf on the upswing?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, it's amazing. Minjee won here I guess a few years ago, and I was able to see her win. She did it in style, not quite a two-hole playoff. But obviously Grace Kim winning earlier this year, I think it just motivates us to continue to try to win and represent Australia and do our best every week.

I think it's really exciting things ahead for all of us.

Q. You talked about the emotions of the last few years. What were some of the lower moments that you felt like you had to bounce back from since 2019 to now?

HANNAH GREEN: I mean, I think COVID was difficult for everyone. Probably coming from Australia, as well, was quite difficult to adjust my schedule and not go back to Australia as much as I would have liked. I did three lots of hotel quarantine in those two years, so I'm glad that's a thing of the past. For any international player it's a big sacrifice to come to America the majority and play the tournaments over here. I think that's probably the biggest hurdle that we have to face.

I feel like now that I've been able to get over this edge and be able to win, the sky's kind of the limit.

Q. How much do you think winning before helped you? I know it had been a while, but neither of your playing partners had won on the LPGA Tour before. How much do you think that experience helped you?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I think it makes a big difference, and I also think having the results the last couple years, playing in the last final groups, kind of knowing what it's like to play late in the afternoon here at Wilshire was helpful. But those girls played really good. Every week playing are playing really amazing golf. I just feel really lucky that I was able to come out on top.

Q. Next weekend Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown. I know the Aussies are all really close. What's that team room or maybe team chat going to be like as soon as you get there and they can congratulate you?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I'm excited to see them all. Steph was here, I think Kempy is probably on a flight going up there right now, same with Minjee. So it'll be really exciting to see them. Kempy had a great week. I'm not sure how Steph and Minjee finished up, but I think we've got a lot of potential in the group, so we're all excited to get up to San Francisco. Maybe a little bit chilly for what we would like, but we want to win that crown.