Why Green felt like she was at home

Hannah Green is overwhelmed by her Aussie support crew while winning the 2019 KPMG Women & # 39; s PGA Championship.

Hannah Green is a people person and that's why she took the poem that a seven-year-old girl wrote to her today in Hazeltine.

And that is why she loved having all of her Australian friends in Minneapolis this week.

A group of them rented a local house, including her friend, Jarryd Felton, a professional herself, Karrie Webb and the Victorian professional Su Oh, who both participated in the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, Stacey Peters, the European Tour professional and current female pathway manager for Golf Australia, and the pair of Webb trade show officials, Grace Kim from Sydney and Becky Kay from the Gold Coast, who meticulously spent the week under Webb's eye

They were all in the midst of the crazy crowd that showered her with beer on the 18th green after the 22-year-old emptied a well of nearly two meters to win her first big championship, making it only the third Australian woman to do this.

The night before they had brought their own Aussie barbecue back home. In the early hours there was a huge thunderbolt that Webb heard; she was encouraged to learn that Green had not done that. She had slept well with a one-shot lead, surrounded by those who meant something to her.

That was all important to Green, who has to pass her trade across the world from her native Perth, where she grew up playing at Hillview, where her father was playing, and at Hartfield before going to Mt Lawley when she started take. golf more serious. She has known the loneliness that confronts a young, professional athlete.

But this week she was surrounded by Australians, the teenagers Kim and Kay dressed in fancy outfits and painted their faces to offer their support on track, and Webb with a few clever words of advice.

Green himself was a beneficiary of the Webb Scholarship, who offers winners a $ 10,000 check for travel to events, and a trip to a major to take a close look at legendary Australians. In 2015, she went to a US Women & # 39; s Open and stayed at Webb, who has become a mentor because she tends to be with most young Australian women.

When she later asked if the money or the company and the advice was the most important thing for her, she was adamant. "Without a doubt, just get to know Karrie. Getting the money is a bonus, but if you stay with her in a house, I think I'll literally breathe her, watching what she's doing in a major tournament, watching from outside the ropes, it definitely gave me a great insight into what the life of the journey was. ”

So in a week in which she played another tournament in another place, Green felt like she was home. "Just watching the video in which they pour beer over me just kills me, and I'm so happy to have them here this week," she said later. "I think it really made a big difference for me to win. They kept me cool there. & # 39; Can you come every week? & # 39 ;! & # 39; & # 39;

It enabled her to relax; she was in her comfort zone. When she came home from the course on Saturday, they were already preparing the food. "There was really no golf talk at all, which was perfect. That's what I wanted. We didn't stay up that late, but by the end of the night we had good conversations. I think it was perfect. wanted to spend Saturday night. & # 39; & # 39;

As for the poem, it was handed to her during the round by a young girl named Lily Kostner, who is watching with her father. Groen embraced the young girl and put the note in her copybook for reference

"I gave her a signed golf ball at ANA (tournament) and her father was there and he reminded me," she said. "I thought: & # 39; Oh wow & # 39; so I got a cute little poem that said I had given her a ball and it also said: & # 39; You can win this & # 39; a few times on the previous nine when I was nervous, I read it, so I have to thank Lily for writing that because I think it really helped me. & # 39; & # 39;

Hannah Green has a tournament to play next week. But first there might be a small Aussie party in Minneapolis.