Australia's golf aces get their ninth and last crack of the year to capture a major championship when the Women's British Open gets under way on Thursday. Fittingly, Hannah Green, Minjee Lee and company's final opportunity for 2024 will come at St Andrews, the spiritual home of golf, where Cameron Smith entered sporting folklore as Australia's 16th and most recent major winner two years ago. "It's a very special place obviously, just coming down the 18th hole with all the beautiful scenes of the hotel and everything.
It's been very cool to play," Green said after a practice round on Tuesday. For all their stellar efforts, Australia's men's and women's stars have fallen short in their sport's biggest and most prestigious tournaments thus far this year. Lee frittered away a three-stroke final-round lead when a second US Open crown beckoned.
Smith couldn't buy a putt all week in finishing tied for sixth at the Masters, while Green - one of only three multiple winners on the LPGA Tour in 2024 - is teeing up for the first time since finishing fourth and agonisingly out of the medals at the Paris Olympics. The world No.5 is eager to atone, but knows St Andrews is a vastly different proposition than the Olympic layout.
"Yeah, I mean Le Golf National is such a different course regardless because we're playing links golf," Green said. "But I feel like I can imagine the shots with the wind that we have to play with, so that's helpful, and being a bit more creative with ball flights and.