Hannah Green has spent the early stages of 2026 finding a good balance and it is a healthy habit the champion golfer is hopeful will lead her to Australian Open glory this week in Adelaide.
The West Aussie chose to leave the clubs in the bag for an extra week over the summer break. She opted against tinkering too much with her game after a challenging 2025.
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The 29-year-old prioritised spending time with family and friends in Perth last weekend, mindful it will be an extended period before the opportunity comes again.
When it comes to the Australian Open beginning on Thursday at Kooyonga Golf Club, she is determined to reign in her expectations, as much as she wants her name on the honour roll.
The yin and yang approach, of finding the time to enjoy life away from the links while ensuring she is positioned to produce from tee to green, is her template to success in 2026.
It worked wonders in the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore a week ago, an event she clinched for the second time in a nail-biting finish, and she hopes it will serve her well in Adelaide and beyond this year.
No Australian woman has won their home Open since Karrie Webb clinched her fifth triumph in 2014 but there are a host of top-flight locals including the world No.9 aiming high this week.
“It’s probably one of the tournaments where we put the most pressure on ourselves to win, just because we know how important it is to us being Australian,” Green told foxsports.com.au.
‘‘Webby is the last Aussie to do that, so I think all of us Aussies want to have our name on that trophy. It’s going to be an amazing event.
“You obviously want to make sure that you’re not putting too much pressure on yourself, because probably there is more external pressure, but internally, you probably are wanting to win it more than you would, perhaps, an event in the US or perhaps even Singapore. So I think just having the right balance of that (is important).
Hannah Green wins World Championship | 01:31
“You know, golf is so funny. Even if you have a bad first day, sometimes you can come right back and, you know, win it from behind. Or vice versa. Even if you have the lead coming into Sunday, sometimes it can kind of slip through your fingers. So I think (it is) just about making sure that I don’t get too ahead of myself too early in the week (and) managing my expectations of what I want to do.
“Obviously, I want to win it. I would love to have my trophy. And obviously the form that I’ve come in to the event helps that. But again … I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself, because when you do that, it usually doesn’t go too well for you.”
SPOUSE DEFUSES STRESS
Finding an even keel on the closing nine in Green’s stunning Singapore success earlier in March was crucial and she credits her other half for playing a crucial role.
That other half is husband Jarryd Felton, who found himself carrying Green’s bag due to a complicated set of circumstances in a tournament that saw her bounce back into the Top 10.
Her regular caddie David Buhai and his wife Ashleigh Buhai, the Australian Open champion in 2022 and 2023, are in the midst of a green card process in America, which can make travelling out of the US tricky for a period.
Felton, who hails from the Gosnells Golf Club in Perth and has enjoyed success in professional ranks, had carried her bag a decade earlier and was happy to forego some tournaments to assist Green while the Buhais remain in the US.
The prospect of having a partner carrying your bag in the midst of a stressful period might be a challenge too far for some couples, but Green and Felton handled the test with distinction, even when the adrenaline began to rise.
Green shared the lead in Singapore after three rounds and started the final round superbly with a birdie on the first and an eagle on the eight. Two more birdies followed from the turn.
But her momentum was halted with a bogey and 14 and the Western Australian said she felt more nervous than usual as she attempted to hold off rivals including Minjee Lee.
Ultimately she pipped American Auston Kim by one shot, with Lee finishing third, and Green said Felton was able to help her retain her poise when it mattered most.
She felt comfortable telling Felton she felt unbalanced by nerves. He was quick to offer a snack, some water, or to make another point that enabled her to handle the “adrenaline”.
“I was a bit nervous at the start, to be honest, because he hasn’t really caddied for me since I was on the Epson Tour about 10 years ago, so it’s been a long time (and it was) fairly new for both of us,” she said.
“I guess, luckily, I do some of my own types of things when I’m on the course, looking at my yardage book and things like that, so it kind of made it a bit more manageable.
“But he kind of just went into full caddie mode. He was helping with the club decision (and) reading some of my putts when I asked him to (and) I think I was really fortunate to have him there, kind of the last nine holes, especially in Singapore.
“I felt like I was probably more nervous than I have been before, and it was nice to just have, I guess, a fellow golfer as well as, you know, my husband be right there next to me, to kind of acknowledge that I was nervous, but then also try and distract me, in a way, from what the situation really was. It was a day we’ll definitely both remember.”
SUMMER SABBATICAL SPARKS STIRRING START
Moments like these do not come every week in professional sport, with the triumph in Singapore proving seventh heaven for Green – seven happens to be the couple’s lucky number.
But the reality of professional sport is that, much like a carnival or circus, the participants move on extremely swiftly and there is not a host of time to be able to enjoy the triumph.
The celebrations on the 18th were cool, with fellow Aussies Steph Kyriacou and Grace Kim showering Green in champagne before the winner shared a swig of bubbles with her man.
But they were on a flight back to Perth that night in order to have a brief break before tackling the Australian Open and Australian WPGA Championship double this month.
A break back in the west over summer helped revive Green after a testing 2025 in which she missed out on a victory after three triumphs in 2024 and slid from the top 10.
There is much to love about Perth, from the white sand beaches to the superb Swan River and some magnificent golf courses dotted across the city from Fremantle to Joondalup.
But the West Aussie, who won the 2019 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota, opted against touching her clubs despite feeling an urge during the sabbatical.
“I did go to Hawaii for a sponsored trip, and then came back to Perth for a few days, and then actually went to Bali with some of my friends,” she said.
“I celebrated my birthday there and probably had four or five days up there just doing nothing, which was really nice and probably an easier way for me to switch off when I wasn’t at home.
“But I feel like the Christmas, New Year period is always really busy catching up with friends and family. Obviously, I’m not always home all year round, so trying to make sure that I see everyone as much as possible is kind of what we did.
“So I actually found it quite easy to distract myself from golf, and I could have easily touched a club earlier than when I did, but I just felt like by giving myself an extra week of rest, it was going to make me more motivated to get back into practice. And I felt like four weeks was plenty enough.”
Green and her coach Ritchie Smith opted against tinkering too much and when she headed off to Thailand in mid-February, there was confidence in the camp about what was to come.
She finished seventh there, five shots in arrears after finishing at 19-under, and arrived in Singapore content in the knowledge she tends to play well at courses she has succeeded at.
“Richie and I weren’t really working on anything too different to what I have been in … my last 20 years of playing golf, to be honest, so it wasn’t like I had to recreate anything,” she said.
“It was kind of just yet, getting back into it and obviously monitoring what we were working on. So … I felt really refreshed and very motivated. And I feel like if I didn’t take time off, I just wouldn’t enjoy it. I would feel like it’s a bit too repetitive. That’s just how I personally feel. And some other players are very different, and we all take different approaches to our pre-season but yeah, I found it quite easy to take time away from golf.”
WHY KOOYONGA HOLDS A PLACE IN HER HEART
It is no surprise that Kyriacou and Kim raced on to the green in Singapore to celebrate.
Nor that in the lead-in to this week’s Australian Open, Green has featured alongside Lee and Kim in social media posts. The Aussies are a tight knit bunch who want collective success.
“I think we had maybe seven Australians in the field in Singapore last week, which I think is probably one of the most we’ve had in a long time, so all the girls reached out to say congratulations, (even) those who weren’t there in person,” Green said.
“But yes, we are a very tight knit group. I think because we do live so far away from … the US, it’s kind of nice that we have one another and travel with one another.
“So I think we still are very competitive against one another, no matter what it is, whether it’s golf or, I don’t know, any type of sport (but it is) nice to have that camaraderie among the other girls.”
The fact they play so far from home is part of what makes the next fortnight at Kooyonga and Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast a special time for Green and her compatriots.
It is also an important time for Australia to showcase its magnificent courses and the quality of the fields both events have drawn ensures they will receive global attention.
As an amateur, Green befriended a group of younger golfers in South Australia and is hoping they will be at the Adelaide event to recreate what has become a regular “selfie”.
Green said Kooyonga will forever hold a special place in her heart. Back in 2018 she played a practice round with Webb, a mentor, before finishing third in a big step forward.
That, she believes, proved critical to her securing an LPGA Tour card and the following year she broke through for the stunning success in Minnesota.
“I wish we had more events that we could play that perhaps fit in the LPGA schedule, but I’m really excited to get back to Adelaide,” she said.
“When we were back in Kooyonga in 2018, that’s where I kind of set up my year. I had a third-place finish, and that was my rookie year, and I actually didn’t really play all great the rest of the season.
“So that start or that finish, I should say, really set up the rest of my year. And (in) 2019 I went on to win a major, so perhaps if I didn’t have that co-sanctioned result, I wouldn’t be called a major champion.
“So yeah, I’m excited to get back to Adelaide. The crowds are always great. You know, when we played, I think it was five years ago, we’ve always had really good crowds. I’m hoping those people can come back and watch us.
“(And) it’s just about giving back, I guess, to Australian golf. Obviously, Minjee and I are now both in the top 10 and we’ve got really strong players as well as you know with Grace Kim, Carrie, Steph, all of the girls, so hopefully we can get good crowds for both of those tournaments.”
EYEING OFF THE BIG ONES
Continuing the theme of balance, Green is hoping for a more even year, mindful she has tended to start seasons well before her form becoming more sporadic down the stretch.
She wants to be in contention more frequently in majors and will base herself in Dallas-Fort Worth after her Australian stint to prepare for The Chevron Championship in April.
It is being held at the Memorial Park Golf Club in Houston and the Aussie is planning on familiarising herself with the course while The Masters is being held at Augusta.
“I think I’ve put too much pressure on myself, especially last year, perhaps with my ranking being as high as it was … for the first time going into those majors,” she said.
“So obviously now I’ve just jumped back into the top 10, and perhaps there might be more eyes on me, but there probably will be more pressure on myself to perform better.
“I really just hope that I can have a more consistent year. Obviously, I’d love to have major championship trophies in my hand, but I’d love to contend more than I have in the past. So yeah, that’s kind of the goal of mine so far.”
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