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KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIPJune 22, 2019Hannah GreenKildeer, Illinois THE MODERATOR: We're back in the groove. Back here with Hannah Green, shot a 2-under, 70 today. This is the first time in her LPGA career that Hannah holds the lead heading into the final round of a tournament. Three in her career on the Symetra Tour in 2017. You had birdies at 4, 5, 7 and 15 but then the closing unfortunate 3-putt there at 18. What happened there at 18 to close the round? HANNAH GREEN: I hit a bad drive. I really surprised where it ended up. I was lucky enough to be able to have a clear shot to be able to hit the green. When I made contact it wasn't exactly how I expected. It was a little bit clunky than I would have preferred. I got into the front of the green. I knew it would be a hard two-putt and I mean I've had some really long putts today but that was early in the round. Kind of was struggling with my pace a little bit even coming down the stretch, leaving some putts short in the heart. Yeah, pretty disappointing to end with a 3-putt. That's my first one all week. Even the putt on 16, just to miss that could have been a big two shot swing as well. Overall, I think I have to be really happy playing with Ariya and trying to keep up with her. You want to hit it as hard and far as she does. I think I need to work on driver, keep that in play a bit more and I feel like I'm hitting my irons well. Just, keeping it in play. THE MODERATOR: It was still a good round. You had the four birdies. Tell us about those, starting at No. 4. HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, No. 4, Ariya hit it close and I hit it past the pin and I knew it was a quick putt. I wasn't trying to go for it. I was trying to die it in. That fell in. The next hole the same thing, I had maybe a 45, 50-foot putt. I was trying to lag back, get it as close to the tap-in length and just died in. So, I mean my pace has been good but I think they only just coming in with confidence. That was really nice to start the round and keep up with Ariya because she was making some birdies there, kind of felt like Match Play because we were got about the -- I was looking at the leaderboard and seeing where everybody else was at. I think the birdie on 15 was important because she could easily go for that in 2. I decided to layup. I think that made the difference, making the one on 15, I think because we were waiting quite a lot I had a lot of time to think about the situation and what could happen on 15, 16, 17, 18. So, I think I'm -- I'm hoping tomorrow it won't be too bad with rain but I know it will be a slow round. I think I need to learn to try to stay patient in between shots. THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions. Q. Karen Stupples today said you had shot discipline, which is you picked your target, hit it and a lot of times that was away from the flag. What do you attribute that to, is that something the way you've played all week, is it the way you played throughout most of your career? HANNAH GREEN: I feel like, especially this week with how the greens are a bit firmer, I know I can't attack pins. I guess the first three holes I knew I had to on a different line to what some girls can take and I think that's important but you need -- you know that you need to do it instead of just attacking pins. It's only the first three holes you need to stay patient and make sure you're not going too hard, too quickly. I think yeah, I played smart. I felt like today I was mainly in between clubs so I felt like I was needed to hit a really full shot or small shot. Me and my caddy discussing what were the outcomes and seeing which one was the better option, and I think that's probably what I've done very different compared to other tournaments, I don't know whether that's just because it's a Major or -- because it's Hazeltine. I just think I'm -- I think I hit 17 greens or 16 greens today. So, I think it's paying off. I just hope that I can, maybe tomorrow, be able to attack more pins. Q. From a distance at least, there's no signs of nerves. Are you nervous and how do you control yourself? HANNAH GREEN: Yeah. I wasn't -- surprisingly I wasn't nervous on the first tee. I can't say -- obviously it's my first time in this position so I feel like I will be a little bit nervous come tomorrow but I think when I have more time to wait in between shots that's when I started to feel the nerves and I was like, okay, my heart is beating. I think I need to just slow things down and take my time and make sure I'm not rushing into any shots. I wasn't really nervous over any shots. I was able to calm myself down but I was definitely disappointed with the putt on 16 and 18. I think that's when I was like okay, maybe there was a little bit of nerve in the putt or stroke. Q. Hannah, is there any correlation between who you're staying with this week and how you are calm and composed and how well you're playing? HANNAH GREEN: I guess I spoke to my coach everyday. He's obviously very pleased. He was in Japan and on his way back to the Perth. He's saying embrace it. Obviously Karrie has been saying the same thing. She's unfortunately not playing this weekend so I was able to speak to her this morning before the round. I don't know. She just tells me to make sure -- I mean I've said all week I've been getting lucky but I guess winners do get lucky. You need to take it while you can and I know, yes, I have thought about the outcome tomorrow come the 18th hole. I think I just need to keep my cool and just have fun out there and embrace it. If it does come to me winning I want to make sure I remember and have fun. I don't want to be miserable and sick during the round (laughter). Q. Hannah, Ariya swept all the LPGA awards last year, former World No. 1. Was there anything daunting about the pairing or know you were going to play with her? HANNAH GREEN: I think the most daunting thing is knowing how far she hits it. It was my first time playing with her. I obviously know how well she performed last year. I don't know if she's won this event before for. THE MODERATOR: She's not. HANNAH GREEN: She would be hungry to get another Mayor. She was actually really nice. I can generally say I felt like she really cared about how I was doing out there and we had a lot of time to chat. I wasn't really sure whether she would be a person that likes to talk on the golf course in between and she was lovely. She was asking me questions about things back Australia and vice versa. So, she was really nice to play with. I think talking to her in between shots really calmed my nerves as well just to feel like she wasn't as intimidating as, you know, her record would show. Q. I'm wondering how contending at the Australian Open has helped prepare you for tomorrow when you have a lot of people pulling for you and lot of attention? HANNAH GREEN: Yeah. That's the experience I have to go off. Playing in the final group last year I was able to play with Jing Yan in the final pairing. That was pretty cool to finish. That's the only experience I really have playing in front of big crowds and I think to have the Australians here just screaming Aussie and stuff like that, that really brings me back to home. Yeah, just going to have to bank off that and I guess hopefully get myself in these positions more often as well. Q. Your boyfriend obviously is a golfer as well. How much does he help you? How do you guys do this, talk about your golf games all that much? HANNAH GREEN: We do. He's over here because he currently hasn't got any tournaments to play in. I'm very comfortable to have him tell me anything about my swing. I say he's probably the same. Unfortunately, I don't get to watch him as much as he comes to watch me. I'm very comfortable and ask for advice or see if he sees something that maybe I don't. I'm happy to take it in. We've been dating for a long time. Golf has always been in our, I guess, relationship. We're both pretty comfortable. Sometimes it is nice to not talk about golf. Like when I go home, I probably won't even talk about anything in the round. I just want to have a normal night, not really talk -- bring there up you too much. Q. (Inaudible) HANNAH GREEN: More last week when I missed the cut on Saturday and Sunday, really worked hard on my ball-striking, on the range for quite a long time. Even though it's still like hasn't been as good today with the driver, I think it's still slowly improving which is nice coming into obviously this weekend and next week. Q. Have you ever dressed in costume like the two scholarship winners? HANNAH GREEN: I've never worn a morsey. The year that I went to see Karrie, she was at the U.S. Open and twice, the two following years, I just felt like if I dressed out there I would distract her and I didn't want to be out there and put too much pressure on her because I knew it was a Major and tough week to have someone staying in your house. I just never wanted to do that. I don't think I would ever be able to have the guts to do that either. It's awesome. It's fun to spot this many in the crowd. Yeah, you can just laugh at it every time. Q. They're not distracting you? HANNAH GREEN: No, it's actually quite the opposite. Giving me a lot of good vibes having them out there. I mean I don't know if everyone has seen, you can easily see them when you're in a crowd. It's nice to see they're watching every hole and also just nice to look at them and see them smiling and laughing at me. Yeah. Q. When you won the three times on the Symetra Tour, were you miserable those days or did you have fun you? HANNAH GREEN: I did have fun. The first time I won it was quite a tough course and wasn't exactly the easiest round of golf. I don't think I was as happy as when I won the other two times because I shot a really low score and came from behind. I think this will be my first time I've ever really led a tournament even on Symetra. So, yeah. Q. Secondly, what exactly were you thinking during that wait on 15? How did the last, say, hour play out in your head? HANNAH GREEN: Yeah. Well, I knew Ariya was obviously going to get there in two. I knew if I got lucky with my drive and kicked down. I wasn't trying to think too much. I knew 16 was moved forward and I knew we were going to be held up so I just wanted to make sure that I was not to out of zone even though I switched off. I'm feeling very tired. Like this is the most stuff I've ever done, of course, and it definitely takes a toll on your body even just walking this course and playing this course. I feel like I was talking to Jennifer "Sun" yesterday, there's no shot where you can't switch off or this is an easy layup or whatever it is. Yeah, definitely feeling it but I feel like the wait on 15 and the wait on 16 was probably not a bad thing for me. I wasn't thinking too much about the outcome at the end of the day. I was like okay, you can make birdie here and here and par in. Q. Did you plan all week to lay up on 16? HANNAH GREEN: My caddy thought about hitting 3-wood but I know my tendencies when I am not to hit it well is to go right. I knew that hazard came in play with how I played the hole the previous day. I didn't want to put that in play. I knew it wasn't a difficult pitch shot if I was to stay short. I was comfortable laying it up to that yardage as I had a similar distance the previous hole and hit it close. It's hard. You need to make sure that you're a hundred percent confident with whatever club you chose and I felt that I was comfortable. It was hard after seeing Ariya hit and her outcome to then be able to make sure I'm hitting it in the fairway, but I think I played that hole well. Q. You talked about the driver a little bit. Just continuing to miss fairways and hit greens, are you pretty confident and comfortable I guess from just about anywhere right now you? HANNAH GREEN: Yeah. When I missed the driver maybe besides 18 I was still missing them in good spots. The one on 12, that was a tough shot and I played it the way I wanted and I guess I got lucky with the kick up but other than that I was mainly in the first cut so it wasn't as, I guess, unpredictable and hard to play through. I hit a lot of greens. That was nice. I hope when I hit the greens I maybe give myself a little bit more opportunity. I felt that even though I hit 17, 16, greens today that I didn't have as many opportunities for birdie. Q. Following that up, you've hit so many fairways all week until today. Would you have thought you could have put up that score by only hitting 6 fairways? HANNAH GREEN: No, to be honest with you. I feel like I said to my caddy, I guess everyone at home, my goal is to hit as many fairways and greens as possible and obviously it makes a big difference hitting shots off the fairway versus the rough, it's more predictable, they're starting to bounce a little bit. I know there's rain expected tomorrow. Even just being in the fairway instead of rough it won't be as thick and grab the club as much -- Ariya hit it awesome today. That's my first time with her hitting a 3-wood and roll. She hit lots of fairways. I think that made the difference me being in the rough versus her in the fairway. Q. How long were your putts on 16 and 18? HANNAH GREEN: 16 I had about 4, 5-foot putt I missed on the high side. 18 I had probably a 9, 10-footer for par and yeah, missed it left again. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you so much Hannah. Get some sleep. See you tomorrow. 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