WHENEVER Hannah Green returns to Singapore, she’s impressed anew at the quality of the beautiful Sentosa golf course, situated on the banks of the city’s spectacular harbour.
It’s the scene of one of her biggest wins – last year’s HSBC Women’s World Championship – and this year, as the defending champion, she’s greeted as she drives to the course by giant posters featuring her image.
“Yeah, my face is everywhere, in the hotel, on the golf course, in the city,” she said today. “So it’s unusual to see it everywhere but obviously it gives me a lot of confidence, and hopefully I don’t put too much added pressure onto myself.”
Green jetted into Singapore on Sunday with her husband, fellow professional golfer Jarryd Felton, who missed the cut in last week’s Webex Players Series Sydney at Castle Hill. It’s a rare opportunity for them to be together for a tournament.
On Monday she played nine holes at Sentosa – the back nine, where last year she finished birdie, birdie, birdie to win the tournament.
“I was remembering the last three putts I made on 16, 17 and 18,” she said.” I recreated the putt on 18. This is a place that I’ve had not only a win, but some good finishes. So I’m looking forward to a title defence.”
Green obviously feels at home at Sentosa. “Every time I come here, I always say the tee boxes look like the putting greens. It’s always really well manicured,” she said.
“It’s almost like a home event. This is the same time zone as where I live and only a five-hour flight. It’s the closest LPGA event that we have to my home city.”
Green, whose last professional outing was a tied fourth in the Founders Cup in Florida in early February, said she had benefitted from a fortnight with her long-time coach Ritchie Smith in Perth.
“I was really consistent with my ball-striking in that last tournament, and that’s obviously something that you need here in Sentosa,” she said.
“Hopefully I can continue with those. I’d say the greens are a little bit trickier here. So hopefully I can hit them to the right spots and give myself some birdie opportunities.
“I just don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. You know, being a defending champion is always quite difficult. So making sure that I am just enjoying this journey, and hopefully I can hit the first tee shot in the fairway.”
Lining up at the Sky Park infinity pool at Manna Bay Sands are (from left) Yin Ruoning, Jeannie Thitikul, Shannon Tan, Hannah Green, Lilia Vu and Charley Hull.
Photos courtesy of Andrew Reddington, Getty Images
Standing in Green’s path is Britain’s Charley Hull, ranked No 8 in the world and making her second LPGA Tour start of the year.
“I just love playing golf,” she said. “Love playing in tournaments. Just being out on the golf course, and I’ve been working hard over the winter on my game.
“I really like Singapore and I haven’t played in a few years. I really don’t like being away for more than two weeks on the road. So that’s why I haven’t played this one unfortunately.”
Hull, who prides herself on her fitness, won’t be short of stamina.
She flew into Singapore on Monday after a 13-hour flight from the UK. “I slept for 12 and a half hours, she said. “Got off the plane and did an 11km run. Went to sleep about 11 o’clock, got up this morning and did a 10km run, so it was quite a bit.”
The HSBC Womens World Championship, of which Inside Golf is proud to be a media partner, is an early highlight of this year’s LPGA Tour. It has been conducted 16 times and on 14 of those occasions has been taken out by a major champion.
Played at the Tanjong course at Singapore’s Sentosa Golf Club, one of Asia’s most acclaimed venues, this year’s event has attracted a top-class field, including world No 2 Ruoning Yin and nine of the world’s top 10 players.
Offering prize money of US$2.5 million and often referred to as ‘Asia’s Major,’ the event will be played from Thursday to Sunday, and televised by Fox Sports.
