AIG WOMEN'S OPEN

August 18, 2020

Hannah Green

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the 2020 AIG Women's Open, Hannah Green. It's lovely to have you here. Back playing golf, and major golf this week. Can you give us your first impressions arriving here at Royal Troon?

HANNAH GREEN: Oh, it's really cool. I guess, yeah, first time to this area, and yeah, first look today, did a little bit of practise yesterday, but really surprised at the weather forecast. It's going to be very tough in the wind. So yeah, just got to be really patient and enjoy myself while I'm out there.

THE MODERATOR: Obviously you had quite a long time off golf. Probably the longest break you've ever had and you spent that back in Australia. Can you talk to us about how you spent your lockdown and what kind of practise you got in, as well?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, so when the Tour announced that the West Coast was postponed, I kind of knew we weren't going to be going anywhere any time soon. I didn't play golf for six or seven weeks and took some time off, which I'm happy I did. It was a struggle at the start, but luckily the golf courses were only closed for a couple weeks. Golf was booming as soon as they reopened. So I was going out there, playing some rounds with some of the local juniors, just trying to get to know them all.

Then yeah, kind of when everything was confirmed about tournaments, I started to knuckle down and get ready. But I'm really fortunate that in Australia, the winter is really, really mild. I was pretty much -- like it was this temperature, anyway, so there was no way that I couldn't go out there and play and practise.

So yeah, I've just been, I guess, staying at home, enjoying myself, being with my friends and family. We're very lucky that COVID is very, very good; there's not really any community spread or anything, so I felt really safe at home. Yeah, really glad I was in Australia.

THE MODERATOR: You mentioned you played golf with a lot of junior golfers back home. You are of course, Australia's most recent major winner. What has the reception been like and what is it like going and playing with those kids, and I'm sure they now look up to you as an idol.

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, because I've known them for so long, I've been the Mount Lawley for probably 13, 14 years and some of the girls are a little bit younger than me, so I have kind of seen them grow up.

So seeing them now, you know, they are in my footsteps, I guess. They want to be out here playing. I thought, how can I give back without really giving too much of my time, and I really wanted to play golf. I wanted to make sure that I was, you know, still being competitive and playing, so I just figured playing with some of the local girls would be good for both of us, and it definitely brought me back down-to-earth when I was at the Oz Open and Vic Open, I had all this attention I've never had before. It was probably the busiest and longest week besides KPMG last year. To be able to come back home, relax, it was really nice. I think I needed it before restarting my season now.

Q. I know you have some Scottish ancestry. I wonder how you feel about links golf courses, and specifically, Royal Troon? Do you know much about the course?

HANNAH GREEN: So, no, I don't. I actually -- so my mum's side of the family is from Scotland. They are up in Fraserburgh, which is about 45 minutes north of Aberdeen. So my first actual trip to Scotland was in 2018, so not that long ago.

I have been up there to visit my family, but they did come and watch me last year, and a lot more family were planning on coming this year before COVID. So I haven't had the opportunity to play lots of golf courses here. I was fortunate enough last year that I got to play St Andrews, but I had not actually been to this side of Scotland. I am really excited to be here. I feel like I do have, you know, somewhat of an idea of links golf. I am from Perth where it does get windy, but probably not the same scene as Troon without trees and whatnot.

But I'm really excited to be here and I think that will definitely help me when I'm out there and practise in some tricky conditions. Just got to see the brighter side of things and just think what an amazing venue.

Q. You were at St Andrews, and I saw where you had learned a bit of history of golf.

HANNAH GREEN: Yes.

Q. Do you think you'll learn anything about the history of golf at Royal Troon, that has its own history, too?

HANNAH GREEN: I think I will, walking in the clubhouse, seeing all the memorabilia in the wall, in the cabinet there. I actually haven't had the chance to have a proper read of everything, but I would definitely do that sometime, and I even think I'm going to rewatch the official film for the 2016 Open. Give me a bit of, you know, good memories, I guess, from seeing Henrik playing so well. So I'm hopefully can make some of my own history here, too.

Q. Having won a major, how does that impact your confidence day-to-day knowing that you can be competitive and are competitive?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, it's definitely a huge difference. I feel like, you know, winning KPMG as well as Portland last year, it's given me somewhat of confidence even when I'm not playing my best, and even when I am playing well, everyone says it, but there's so many holes to play. You can have a great round the first couple rounds, but you've just got to keep grinding and keep staying in it, and that's what I did both times.

So yeah, hopefully I can get off to a good start because, I mean, it is going to be tough. There are going to be players that are going to slowly get better as the rounds get on. So I'm hoping, yeah, I can have some good consistent rounds and just keep in it.

Q. Growing up in Australia where they have such an extensive structure for promoting junior golf, how did that help evolve you as a player and prepare you for your professional career?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, we're very fortunate in Australia that we do have a national programme that supports us, not necessarily just as a national squad, but also state squad. I think when I was 12 or 13, I made a junior team and was able to get some funding and then some experience around Australia, and then got into the national squad, and then had some experience playing up in Asia, as well as the U.S. So I think that definitely helped me to know about the travel aspect to get me somewhat prepared for professional life.

Unfortunately we don't have a lot of events for us to play, or us females to play in Australia, so I kind of knew I was always going to be playing elsewhere, and that's something that I do struggle with is being homesick and being away from Australia for a long time. Having those opportunities as an amateur, and also as a professional, Golf Australia have a Rookie Squad Programme, so your first five years as a professional, you can get some funding and some help from them.

So very fortunate that I've been able to have that pretty much my whole amateur career and my last few years as a pro.

Q. Are there any specific shots you've been working on this week or last week with a view to the test that Troon provides, particularly, if the winds get up?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, especially with the wind direction coming from the south the next few days, it's obviously going to make a lot of the holes really long and some quite short. So I think we'll actually be playing a lot of clubs in the bag. Some courses we play in, we're only hitting wedges or only hitting long irons, but I think there will be quite the variety this week. I think just being on top of that.

But I think definitely off the tee, you've got to be sometimes aggressive but sometimes safe. I think some holes you can get away with it but others you might have to putt a little bit more into it and take a riskier shot. There's obviously a lot more pot bunkers here, so I think just making sure you can control where you mis-hit it, where your second shots or your third shots are going to be, that will be the person -- whoever putts themselves in the best positions to make par will be ultimately the winner at the end of the week.

Q. You mentioned times to be aggressive and times to not. Is it going to be key, do you think, to identify those times where you do have to attack because there might be a focus a lot of the time on just hanging on in brutal conditions?

HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I think probably on Friday, looking at the forecast, that will be a day where you want to play safe. But if you have a morning round, perhaps when the wind is less strong, you might be able to, you know, have a bit more options. I think with how the front nine is going to play this week, we'll pretty much be hitting driver the whole time. I played this morning with no wind and hit 3-woods and hybrids. So that will change that side of things. But yeah, just keeping the ball in play will be the most important thing and I think at least we all have caddies that we can discuss and agree on things when to pull the trigger and when to go for things and when to play safe and maybe not -- maybe have a 30-footer instead of a 5-footer.

THE MODERATOR: I think that is all the questions from the floor and also from me. Best of luck at the AIG Women's Open this week.