THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the Media Centre at the 2025 HSBC Women's World Championship. I'm joined here by 2024 Champion Hannah Green,
Hannah, I'll ask a couple questions and we'll open it up here in the Media Centre. I guess the main story line of the week is, what was it like last year to win, and what do you remember most about that victory?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, so I arrived Sunday night. I practiced yesterday and I played the back nine and just remember obviously the last 3-putts that I made on 16, 17 and 18. Recreated the putt on 18.
Yeah, my face is everywhere, in the hotel, on the golf course, in the city. So it's unusual to see it everywhere but obviously gives me a lot of confidence, and hopefully I don't put too much added pressure on to myself. But 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.
THE MODERATOR: With all those great finishes you've had here, can you put into words what this event means to you?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, 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 that we have to my home city.
Yeah, there's lots of people that come from Perth that travel up and my husband is also here this week, which is nice. There's lots of good memories in that sense, and the crowds are really good to us here in Singapore.
Obviously a lot more events coming to Singapore, and it's great that the LPGA has such a long history here.
THE MODERATOR: Last time we saw, you had a great finish at the Founders Cup. What did you see from that tournament that you're trying to carry into this tournament, and just generally what is trending in your game?
HANNAH GREEN: I was really consistent with my ball-striking in the last tournament that I played, and that's obviously something that you need here in Sentosa. Hopefully I can continue with those. I'd say the greens are a little bit more tricky here. So hopefully I can hit them to the right spots and give myself some birdie opportunities.
But yeah, again, I just don't want to put too much pressure off and 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.
Q. Having played the course, how do you think it shapes up for your title defence this week?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, it looks really good. Every time I come here, I always say the tee box looks like putting greens. It's always really well manicured. It really depends on how much wind and rain we get, how they will setup the golf course.
Yesterday I played the back nine and I felt the greens were rolling a really nice place. Hopefully that continues and gets a little bit quicker. It's always hard because I think I didn't have a good first round last year, and then I had some really low scores. Yeah, depends on what weather we get. It seems like it's been almost a little more breezy than what we usually experience and that will make it more difficult. That's what us players want, and it also helps with the heat that we experience.
For me it's my first tournament in the Asia Swing and some girls played in Thailand, and even Saudi the week before, so they might be a little bit more tired. That's why I didn't play last week. I just wanted to give myself the best opportunity for a title defence.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting out there but I think whether it plays a little bit breezier, it makes it a lot tougher out here at Sentosa.
Q. So I saw one of the previous interviews you did about how last season, you had good weeks where also maybe you weren't doing well in the first round, but you were able to fight back and find yourself in contention. We saw that at the HSBC and Olympics, as well. What changed such that you gave yourself a chance, even if you didn't have the best start?
HANNAH GREEN: I guess just some inner confidence, probably because I have had some success on the Tour.
But I think just going into a different mindset of, you know, coming from behind. Sometimes when you're at the lead the entire week, it's a little bit more mentally challenging compared to when you have had a not-so-good first day, you're just kind of fighting back in a different way.
Yeah, hopefully that is definitely something that I did see, and fortunately I did have some good results after that. But this is a complete different season, so who knows what it might be like this year.
I'm hoping at least, yeah, to get off to better starts and just be a little bit more consistent throughout the week. The first two events I played this year, I might have a good day where I putt well and then putt poorly, and the next day would be completely the opposite. It's tough. That's golf. Things don't always go the way you want, and that's just what you have to mentally think about out there.
But I'm hoping that I can be a bit more consistent with my stats while I play.
Q. You had such a terrific year last year, three wins including this one, after such a successful year, how do you reset your goals for this year?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, it's difficult. Obviously I would say most players have goals throughout the year, and you know, because I did achieve winning three tournaments, it's hard to then reset.
So I guess another thing that I've been thinking about with my coach is obviously where my World Ranking is, and realistically, with Nelly winning as many times as she did last year, I don't think I can achieve No. 1 unless I win the same amount of times. I said would love I to get to World No. 2, World No. 3. It is hard to back up a successful year.
So I, again, don't want to put too much pressure on myself. But it does bring a lot of confidence coming to events that you've played well at before. I'm looking to be in contention in major championships.
Unfortunately I didn't play a lot of weekends last year, and those are the tournament we try to prepare well the best and I put too much pressure on myself to perform well at those events. I'm hoping this year will be a better season in that sense. Yeah, just got to use the confidence from the last couple years to go into those weeks.
Q. You just spent a couple of weeks at home in Perth working with Richard Smith who was awarded the Western Australia Coach of the Year. I know you've been with him a long time. What is it about him that means so much to you and what makes him so special?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I've been working with him since I was probably 12 or 13 years old. We've had a long relationship, and you know, he knows -- I guess he can be very personable about how to apply things in the golf swing.
Minjee Lee also works with him. Even though we might be working on the same thing in a sense, it's just the way that he delivers it to both of us that makes it easier to understand. It might be completely different, terminology, but it's just he understands because we've had such a long relationship, what maybe clicks for me and what perhaps clicks for other players.
It's just nice to have grown up with the same coach and he can see how I've grown as a player, and also, I guess, as a person.
But just having someone that I trust that even if things aren't going well, he'll tell me the swing is bad. He won't just tell me things are going well. I want him to be honest. I think having that relationship both sides, even me telling him, I don't think that's right and vice versa, I think that's important.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports