Lydia Ko and Hannah Green, respectively 27 and 28 years of age, are firm favourites as they prepare for the HSBC Women\u2019s World Championship at Sentosa from 27 February to 2nd March. They could scarcely be otherwise, what with Ko\u2019s\u00a0\u201924 achievements taking in an Olympic Gold medal, the AIG Women\u2019s Open, the Kroger Queen City Championship and, of course, a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
As for Green, whose first LPGA victory was in the \u201919 Women\u2019s PGA Championship, she began \u201924 with a grand win in the HSBC – and went on from there to capture the JM Eagle Championship and the BMW.<\/p>\n
While many might think that an Australian background does not make for the easiest of starts for an itinerant golfer, Green was lucky to be the recipient of a Karrie Webb scholarship which involved a handsome donation towards her international travels. It also involved mentoring from Webb who, having won the \u201911 HSBC, would no doubt have passed on how she looked for inspiration from the Singaporean flowers, the birds and the monkeys.<\/p>\n
On much the same tack, Green is no different from Webb and everyone else in feeling \u201cin a good place\u201d the moment she steps off the plane in Changi Airport and falls into the hands of the HSBC hosts: \u201cAlmost straightaway, we all start thinking about how much we want to qualify and be able to come back in the future!\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, there is one hole on the championship Tanjong course – the par-five 18th – which will conjure up the best and the worst of Green\u2019s memories in that order.<\/p>\n
Last year, she closed with three successive birdies, with her birdie at the 18th her third of her week. What is more, so confident did she feel at the third time of asking that a smile had spread across her face at a time when her 30-foot birdie putt still had a bit to go.<\/p>\n
In \u201921, on the other hand, the crowd was awaiting a Hannah Green triumph when nerves took over from knowledge as she closed bogey, bogey instead of with the par, par finale which would have been enough to see her defeat Hyu-Joo KIm.<\/p>\n
Still in 2021, there was one eventuality at that same 18th which will drum up memories for Ko no less than Green,<\/p>\n
The two were playing together on the Saturday and everyone feared that Ko would be trailing by as many as six shots going into the final round.<\/p>\n
As it turned out, she took a wedge for her third and hit it as perfectly as she would have wished without being able to see where it finished.<\/p>\n
To her glee, she would learn how it kicked from Green\u2019s hole-side third to give her the eagle which left her just four behind.<\/p>\n
That she failed to make the most of her good fortune \u2014 she ended up in a share of 7th place after following three rounds in the 60s with a 71 \u2014 is one more reason why Ko is back, as eager as ever, to play in this year\u2019s HSBC.<\/p>\n
Though she finished second to Inbee Park ten years ago and has since notched plenty of top ten finishes, she seems to have given up on the idea of the early retirement she mentioned last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like a challenge,\u201d she said, no doubt looking back to the AIG Open when she was level with Jiyai Shin, Lilia Vu and Nelly Korda with two to play. What happened next was that she made an impossible par four through the worst of the conditions at the 17th before chipping to six feet at the 18th. She had predicted it would take a par and a birdie to win and that is what she got when she holed from six feet to win by two from the quartette of Shin, Vu, Korda and Ruoning Yin.<\/p>\n
Hardly surprisingly, \u2018Asia\u2019s major\u2019, otherwise known as the HSBC, makes for the kind of challenge she has in mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lydia Ko and Hannah Green, respectively 27 and 28 years of age, are firm favourites as they prepare for the HSBC Women\u2019s World Championship at Sentosa from 27 February to 2nd March. They could scarcely be otherwise, what with Ko\u2019s\u00a0\u201924 achievements taking in an Olympic Gold medal, the AIG Women\u2019s Open, the Kroger Queen City […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n