It has been ten years since an Australian woman last won the Australian Open, and if the drought is to be broken by one of the nation’s LPGA stars, they will do it in astonishing fashion.
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Minjee Lee and Hannah Green stepped off a plane from the United States on Wednesday morning after playing in the LPGA Tour’s season finale last weekend.
They got here just in time for the national open to get underway in Melbourne on Thursday where the Australian pair – who boast three major championships between them – will attempt to break the home country’s drought without having played a practice round.
They rolled into Kingston Heath on Wednesday afternoon bleary eyed but eager to get a taste of the course which will host the weekend action after sharing the first two rounds with Victoria Golf Club.
But wild storms repeatedly smashed through Melbourne in the afternoon and shut the course as well as practice facilities before they could hit a shot.
Their preparation has been far from ideal, but both Lee and Green are taking the pressure off themselves and it may be the approach to set up a monumental triumph.
“I’ve always, because it’s my national title, I think I’ve put a little bit more added pressure just on myself to perform and have a good result,” Lee said.
“But sometimes it does work in my favour and sometimes it doesn’t. And I think more so than not, it has not worked in my favour. So the last few years I’ve just kind of come in with a little lower expectation and just try to have fun and actually really embrace every moment on the golf course.
“We always get a really lovely crowd and good crowd, so just try and give them great memories. And last year I was close but hopefully had to get lot closer this year.”
For Lee, it would be a great way to cap off a “humbling”, winless year where she slid down to 17th in the world rankings after being as high as number two in recent years.
On the other hand for Green, it would cap off arguably the best year of her career.
She has won three times on the LPGA and was awarded her second Greg Norman Medal – for being Australia’s top golfer of the year – last week after claiming her first in 2019 when she won a major at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
The 27-year-old was one of the first players to commit to this year’s Australian Open and although she admitted she was feeling “a little bit out of it” on Wednesday, she is confident she can win the national crown for the first time.
“I think my form coming into an Australian Open is the best it’s ever been,” Green said.
“Obviously arriving on a Wednesday is not ideally how I would start my week, but who knows, because I haven’t had much time to think about the possibility of winning an Australian Open, it might not be a bad thing.”
The last Australian to win the tournament was seven-time major winner Karrie Webb in 2014, and Green believes the time is right for the torch to be passed over from Australia’s greatest ever golfer.
Webb is a mentor to all of the top Australian women’s golfers and served as team captain – for the men and women – at the Olympic Games in Paris this year, and it would be fitting that one of the current crop who are so close to Webb breaks the drought.
“Both Minjee and I look up to her and want to have as many tournament wins as we can,” Green said.
“The Australian Open is definitely one that I want to win. The last few years we’ve given it our best bet to try and win one of those but we’ve put more pressure on ourselves because we want it more.”
Standing in their way the last two years has been two-time defending champion Ashleigh Buhai.
The South African major winner has relished the role of party pooper and is better rested than Green and Lee as she missed out on making the LPGA Tour Championship so she jetted into Australia several days earlier.
Buhai feels “sorry for them” for having the tight turnaround, and she also knows what it is likely to be under pressure in front of your home fans.
“Obviously I know how hard it is to win your Open. Like I say, any player, it’s the next thing next to a major,” she said.
“Obviously I’m happy for myself, that I’m able to come over again and I’ve been able to do it, but I think it’s difficult because you put that extra bit of pressure on yourself.
“I know when I went back and played the South African Open after winning the Women’s British, I mean it was the most pressure I felt. “Especially because of the expectation. You’re expected to win.”
Grace Kim, who is in her second season on the LPGA, is the other Australian in the field this week to high tail it back from America.
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