Australia’s Hannah Green claimed her sixth career LPGA Tour title and third of the season with a wire-to-wire victory at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea.
Green closed with a round of one-under-par 71 at Seowon Valley Country Club for a 19-under-par 269 total, edging France’s Celine Boutier by one shot.
This was the first time in her career that Green has chalked up three wins in a single season, with her previous victories this year coming at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore and the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro in California.
The final day began with a two-stroke cushion for Green, but she was caught by a surging Chanettee Wannasaen of Thailand who went birdie-eagle-birdie on holes 4, 5 and 6. The two players stayed level through much of the back nine before Wannasaen made the first mistake, adding her second bogey of the day on Hole 17 to fall one stroke back.
Boutier meanwhile made her presence known by recording birdies on five of her last seven holes to tie Green at 18-under-par. At 17, Green nailed her approach close to the pin and sunk the birdie putt to take a one-stroke lead into the final hole. The Australian made a clutch par putt on the last green to become the second Australian after Minjee Lee last year to win the BMW Ladies Championship.
“Yeah, it was a crazy finish, I guess. My caddie said to me at the start of the day, ‘Let’s try and get a lead and have a bit of a cushion coming in.’ I did not do that and made it very interesting,” said Green, who joins Lydia Ko (3) and Nelly Korda (6) as the only players to win at least three times this season.
“Just super proud of myself for hanging in there because the conditions were very tough. The wind was very swirly, and I think everyone was trying to battle the wind. I haven't experienced a wind direction change like that before,” added the 27-year-old from Perth.
This was Green’s second wire-to-wire win of her career following the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Boutier earned her second runner-up finish of the season, having also lost to Green by a stroke at the HSBC Women’s World Championship. Wannasaen finished third on 17-under-par, one shot clear of Korean duo Hye-Jin Choi and Yu Jin Sung. Defending champion Lee finished T33 at five-under-par.
The LPGA Tour’s late season Asian swing continues with the coming week’s Maybank Championship on October 24-27 at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club, where Boutier will attempt to defend the title she won in a nine-hole playoff over Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand.
