In-form Australian golf star Hannah Green admits it’s hard to temper her expectations as she prepares for the “meatier” part of her 2026 campaign, starting with next week’s US Women’s Open.
Texas-based Green has been at home in Perth for a much-needed mental and physical “reset” following a remarkable run of success that has included four wins and a tie for seventh at the first women’s major of the year, the Chevron Championship, since early March.
“I didn’t realise how much adrenaline I was kind running on for those last couple of months, but it’s been really nice to be home,” she said.
“I just feel like I need the mental reset as well as the physical, and I’ve been fortunate enough that my coach Ritchie (Smith) is home, so I’ve been able to spend some time with him getting ready for the next stretch of events in my calendar.
“This is where the meatier part of our season (starts), a lot of events in a row, a lot of big tournaments, major championships, and also a lot more travel than we’ve had at the start of the season.
“It’s going to be a real test mentally, just making sure that my expectations aren’t getting too ahead of what I’m actually capable of.”
Green, however, has already shown she is “capable” of plenty.
Wins this year at the LA Championship, HSBC Women’s World Championship, the Women’s Australian Open and the Australian WPGA Championship has helped lift her to No.6 in the world rankings.
“I am a top-six player in the world. I want to win major championships. I want to have more tournaments under my belt, but sometimes when you play well, it doesn’t mean you have the trophy in your hands at the end of the week,” the 29-year-old winner of the 2019 Women’s PGA Championship said.
“It’s going to be probably the hardest thing that I’ll have to face for the rest of the year – wanting to be as successful as I have been in the past two months.
“It’s just making sure that I’m not getting too ahead of myself, and just hopefully hitting the ball where I want it to go.
“Those are probably the things that I’ve got to work on for the rest of the year, and hopefully I just continue to hole a lot of putts.”
Green has been working with Smith to improve her work off the tee with the driver in anticipation of a tough test next week at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.
“I feel like it’s the club that for me personally isn’t very consistent in the bag, even though I feel like sometimes the strike is actually better than what the result of actually hitting a fairway or missing the fairway is,” she said.
“It’s something that in major championships you need to have on because the rough is usually thicker or the courses are usually longer, so it’s just been more feeling comfortable with starting a draw to the right instead of starting it straight and then seeing it fall left.
“It’s nothing too strange, but just being more comfortable with that, and having Ritchie check on things to make sure that I’m not manipulating the club in the wrong way.
“I’ve been playing very well this year. There’s not really too much going wrong.”
