THE MODERATOR: Welcome, everyone, today to the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastipro. Very pleased to be joined by defending champion and two-time winner of this event, Hannah Green. Welcome back to LA. I know you love it here, but new course, new year. Just some initial thoughts heading into your title defense here.
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I was fortunate enough to do media day here a couple weeks ago and go and play the course, so I think that was helpful. But it's a good course. It's very strong. There's going to be some tough holes. There's going to be some easier holes. So I think it's a nice combination.
I just finished the pro-am and the guys were like, what do you think you need to shoot, and I'm like, I honestly have no idea because there could be so many tricky pins that they could put them in. Whether they do that, obviously we're not sure yet. But the course is in really good shape, and I think we're all looking forward to a new challenge.
Q. I know you love Wilshire so much; you played there every year. Anything about this course that reminds you, or is it just being in LA again that makes you confident heading into the week?
HANNAH GREEN: I think it's a little bit of both. I think having the same grass also helps. Obviously we have Pure Distinction greens this week, unlike poa annua, but some of the Wilshire members are going to come and watch, and my host dad Tom is out and supporting me. You can hear his voice in a lot of my highlights from the last two years, actually. I think that will help.
But I think we're all just looking forward to getting this week done. Obviously they just had the U.S. Junior here, so I think that also helps seeing the girls make as many birdies as possible, and yeah, hopefully we'll have a good week.
Q. What makes Tom's voice distinctive and what kinds of things does he say that you know it's him?
HANNAH GREEN: It's more a bit of a yell, I would say. He likes to be the loudest person to cheer for me. Obviously I'm playing with Nelly tomorrow so it'll be interesting to see if he can top her fans. But you'll definitely hear him out there.
He's been my host dad since 2018, my rookie year, and he's come out to watch me every year, so a bit of a good luck charm I would say.
Q. How often have you played with Nelly, and what do you like about playing with her?
HANNAH GREEN: I have played obviously with Nelly a lot over the years. She's obviously really easy to get along with, obviously a very good player, but she's also very efficient on the golf course. She's probably similar in pace with how quick we both play. Even Madelene, I haven't played with her in a long time, but I think I'll be the first person to hit into the green every hole, two long hitters.
But yeah, it's just going to be a really good vibe back here in LA, so I hope we get some good crowds this week.
Q. Curious if you watched the final round of the Masters. If so, where and what you thought about Rory winning the Career Grand Slam.
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, so I was actually traveling here to LA. I left Perth, my flight was delayed, so I was hoping I had a bit more -- I should start again.
I traveled from Perth to Melbourne, had like a five-hour layover, so I should have actually been able to watch it. My flight got delayed, so it was a red eye.
I saw Rory make double on the first and then fell asleep and I woke up, and I think he had a four-shot lead at that point, and I was like, all right, I'm safe; I'll go change terminals, get to my flight, and then all of a sudden it was like, he's tied for the lead, and I was like, oh, gosh, what's going on here.
So I was fortunate to watch the rest.
But the shot on 15 I think was the most impressive, to hit the draw over the water and obviously finish where it did. Yes, he made birdie, but I think that was really impressive. But I think he made everyone nervous, and I can't imagine what his heart rate was like that round. I hope he's still recovering, not only from celebrating but from how hard he had to work.
Yeah, really cool to see him get it done. Obviously a very popular person on TOUR and with the fans, so I think everyone is very happy for him, and I'm sure he feels like a big weight has been lifted off his shoulders.
Q. You've won a major; you know how hard it is. Your thoughts about somebody from this tour winning the Career Grand Slam. Where does that rank for you on goals, and how does that work?
HANNAH GREEN: Absolutely. We want to win LPGA tournaments but people want to win majors.
I think it's so much easier to say than it's easier to be done. Also because we are fortunate enough to have five, it makes it even harder.
But yeah, it's something that we all try and achieve, and hopefully I can perform a little bit better in the majors this year. My last few years I haven't performed quite as I would have liked. But hopefully I can start that off with a good week here.
Q. There was an exciting announcement yesterday they're going to have a mixed team component in the Olympics. What are your thoughts on that announcement?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I'm all for it. I haven't played a lot of mixed golf. I used to as a junior just at my home club. But I've played a lot of match play type of things, so I think I've been competitive enough.
But all of us Aussies are really tight knit, so I think it'll actually be so much fun. And obviously being here in LA at Riviera will be an amazing venue to showcase that, and obviously being close with Min Woo and Minjee, hopefully they can make the team and be a duo together.
But I think not only are you playing for your country but to also play for fellow countrymen, I think that will be really and hopefully will be a real big success.
Q. Is there one of the guys in particular that you have played with that you feel like your games would work well together?
HANNAH GREEN: I haven't played with a lot of the boys. I have been fortunate to play with Scotty, but I don't believe he thinks the Olympics should be for professional athletes, so that would be a shame if he would qualify to not be able to play with him. But Jason would be awesome to play with. Obviously he won the team event with Lydia, so he's familiar with the format. Any of those guys I'd love to play with.
Q. How do you approach a week like this? You're defending champion, but next week being a major championship, what are your goals and priorities with so much going on?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, so even though I have won this event twice, being in the Chevron the week before I've never made the weekend. It's kind of nice; hopefully I can find some form this week and then bring it into Chevron.
But yeah, it is different, especially I decided to not play Vegas, so I only played Phoenix and then prior to that I only played in Singapore, so I can't really say that I'm coming off any good form or any bad form.
But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how things go this week. It's a very different golf course to what we're playing next week at Chevron. But hopefully, yeah, I can get some good vibes from this week and take it into the event.
Q. Do you have any vibes around here that you felt when you were at Wilshire?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, definitely. I think the greens, they are poa annua at Wilshire but won't be in the future. But I actually played with some Wilshire members today and everyone said they're obviously very proud of me and cheering me on for the week, so just even having things like that makes the week a lot better, and I think with the bunkering and even some of the tee shots, it feels somewhat similar to Wilshire.
Q. How would you assess where your game is at coming into this week?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I was back in Australia the last two weeks, so I think I'm in a very mentally good state. Hit the ball all right today. Probably left a couple of shots out there that I could improve on, but in the pro-am I guess it's fine when you're playing a scramble and you have some amateurs to rely on. But yeah, I'm just going to do some practice this afternoon and have a chill night and get ready for tomorrow.
Q. I know you made an announcement at media day that you're going to be doing a donation campaign for fire relief based off birdies and eagles this week. I know you talked about that, but can you put into words what it means to you to be able to support this community in such a big way this week?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, so when it was going on I obviously saw Max Homa was doing some donations, and it was something that I thought about, but then I just felt like it wasn't right to do it at the time in Florida not being in LA.
So yeah, came to the media day a couple weeks ago and saw Mo Martin and heard her stories about how it personally affected her parents and I think her sister, so I just felt like, oh, like I really want to do something.
Even hearing from Walter and Shirley and how much they've donated, and obviously they've donated a lot of money, so they did a lot of research on where it should go. I think that was kind of the thing: Where does it go. There are a lot of people that scam people and it's just horrible to see that people will do that in such a devastating time.
Trusting the organization that it's going to I think was the important thing, and then yeah, just trying to do something and bring some awareness because there's people that are not going to be in their own house for years probably. So even though the fires have stopped, there's still a lot of pain that people are suffering. Hopefully just bring some awareness gives me some more motivation throughout the week to make some more birdies, and hopefully other people can jump on board, as well.
Q. We've only seen you four times so far this year, but as we head into what's the longest stretch of the season here upcoming, what are you looking for from your game this year? Obviously had a great season last year. I feel like this is where everything kicks off. What are you looking for from yourself out of that three-win season last year?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I think it's going to be hard to be backup to be honest. Having three wins is always going to be tough. Prior to that I only had three wins in my six or seven years that I've been on the Tour. I'm not really looking at saying that I need to hit a specific number of wins or anything like that. I just want to make sure that I'm in contention a little bit more in the majors, getting myself as many opportunities to try and win a trophy on a Sunday, as well.
I think obviously when I play well, I know I'm good enough to get a trophy in my hands, but I think just worrying about when I don't have those good rounds, just making sure that I am maybe saving a shot here or there and just focusing on not getting too ahead of myself, as well.
I don't want to put too much pressure on myself, especially this week. Perhaps if it was at Wilshire, I'd be like, yeah, that trophy might be mine. But here at El Cab, anything can happen. So yeah, hopefully not putting too much pressure on myself.
Q. I feel like you were always a player that was in some of those best-in-the-world conversations but you really solidified that last year. How much more comfortable are you feeling in your career, in your golf, and looking ahead to the rest of the season?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, it's nice to have results to back up how you feel that you play, and even World Ranking, it kind of sometimes does surprise me that I am in the top 10 in the world. But I guess when you do win three times in a year, that will happen.
But it just makes me justify that my coach and my physio and everyone in my team that we're doing the right things and things are how it should be. There's no real second-guessing for me. I'm really happy with how everything is going, and some weeks it will be easier than others, and I think that's why we all play golf. Just the challenge that golf brings makes it more exciting and makes us want to be out here.
Q. We talked about Rory at the Masters, how he made history, and you actually have the chance to also make history this week to be the first player to win the same tournament three times in a row since Inbee Park. How does that historical aspect play a factor for you going into the week?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I kind of forgot that would be Inbee Park. But it's definitely been on my mind. I've had a lot of volunteers and a lot of other people in the crowd say they're hoping for me to be able to do a three-peat, and obviously I would love to have my name in history. But again, I don't want to put too much pressure on myself.
I've got a good group tomorrow. I think that'll help with the situation. But hopefully I can be in contention if not maybe leading on Sunday to be able to achieve that.
Q. There are a record nine Aussies exempt on the LPGA this year and all of them are in the field this week. In what ways does that change the experience for you of playing in the U.S.?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, it's great. I was talking to someone the other day back in Australia and saying that we have the most Aussies on Tour, but I think we also, like all of those players are talented enough to become really good players and win on Tour.
It's nice to have some of the younger girls out and they reach out to us and ask for some help, and I would say most of us Aussies are pretty tight knit. Last night at the pro-am party we were all making sure when are we getting there, things like that, and we're always having group chats and having conversations.
Yeah, we're very tight knit, and most of us don't travel with too many parents or entourage, things like that, so we travel with one another. It's great to see all the girls out here.
I feel like I'm one of the veterans, I guess you could say, or the sisters of the Aussie group, so it's nice to see the girls have come through and how they're experiencing and learning things, as well.
Q. I know you're good friends with Steph Kyriacou. She just bumped back up into the top 50 in the world. In your eyes, how close is Steph to winning out here and how would you assess her game?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, we had a question with media, I think it was maybe at Bradenton, and it's like, what's your prediction for 2025, and I said a young Aussie will win for the first time on Tour. I am hoping it's obviously any Australian, but Steph is a close friend of mine and obviously she came so close at Evian last year. I think she handled herself really well. Ayaka just played amazing on that back nine, and Steph unfortunately did make a bogey on 17. But she made birdie on 18 to try and press her.
I think that took a lot of guts, and hopefully, yeah, that brings in some confidence for her and getting back into the top 50 I think was probably one of her goals, and we have the International Crown of course this year, so she really wants to make that team. I really hope she continues -- she works really hard, so I really hope she has some success.
Q. You were just home in Australia; how important was that little reset for you and what did you do when you were home?
HANNAH GREEN: Yeah, I went back home because my husband turned 30, so we celebrated that, not this weekend, the weekend prior, so that was nice to be there because usually I'm not home in April.
It was really good to be home. The weather was perfect. It was really just nice to be obviously at home in my own bed.
But I will be on the road until KPMG, so a little longer than I usually do. But with the crazy -- not crazy but the amazing schedule that we have, that was kind of the only choice. I'm looking forward to the next couple months of the golf courses that we get to play and the venues that we continue to play. Yeah, it should be an exciting summer.
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