By Martin Blake
Photo Getty

The wheel turns slowly but surely.

Four years ago now, Hannah Green rolled up at the Women’s PGA Championship, checked into a share house with Karrie Webb among others, and duly won her first major championship.

Out on the putting green when she holed out for par to beat the world No. 1 Sung Hyun Park, Green was drenched with beer by a bunch of her housemates that included Karrie Webb Scholarship holders Grace Kim and Becky Kay, and no less a figure than Webb herself.

This week Green returns to the women’s PGA Championship, the second major of the 2023 season, with good form to show and with two new Webb Scholarship girls in tow – Queenslander Justice Bosio and Western Australian Maddison Hinson-Tolchard.

That pair of gifted, young players will draw knowledge and experience from Webb this week but also from Green, Minjee Lee and the other Australian stars teeing it up in the $US9 million event.

It’s all part of the mentoring that Golf Australia employs for players in its High Performance squads, connecting young and talented amateurs with touring professionals.

Cameron Smith also does it with young male players, most recently with Jeff Guan and Joseph Buttress at the US Open last week, Geoff Ogilvy’s foundation is devoted to it, and it happens around the world in less formal circumstances, with young players practicing and hanging out with their older peers.

And Green is most surely a wisened pro at 26. She’s battled through her early years as a pro, lonely on the road and struggling for form.

She has solved those particularly issues by travelling regularly back to her beloved Perth, and learned that while it might not help her bank balance or her accumulation of points, it helps her to play better when she returns.

Green goes to New Jersey this week having won an LPGA tournament in Los Angeles in April, with confidence in her stride. She’s also proud to have seen her friend Grace Kim, now an LPGA rookie, win her first tournament on the biggest women’s tour in the world.

“I do think we feed off each other’s successes,” she told Golf WA. “You always want an Australian to do well but you also want to be that Australian who’s up there.

“Seeing Grace Kim winning in Hawaii [at the LPGA Tour’s LOTTE Championship] a few weeks earlier had a big impact. I was so proud of her because the win came so early in her career, but it made me want to win a trophy even.”

Perth’s Green is one of eight Australians playing at Baltusrol in New Jersey this week, including world No. 5 Lee who is yet to win on tour this year. Green told Golf WA recently that she felt comfortable out on tour again after some time at home with coach Ritchie Smith and sports scientist Ryan Lumsden.

“Having spent time with Ritchie and Ryan I feel like I’m in a much better place. I definitely want to continue winning and I’m really excited about the next stretch of events, including the four majors.

“I want to say that I could win a couple more events before I next come home but with the level of golf on tour, it’s so hard to win. If that doesn’t happen, hopefully I’ll just be playing good golf.”

In Connecticut, Min Woo Lee got a late call-up to the Travelers Championship worth $US20 million and he gets another opportunity to secure his playing rights in America for 2024.

Lee is already a Special Temporary Member of the US Tour for the rest of this season, giving him unlimited invitations to play.

But if he can accumulate more Fedex Cup points than the 125th player this season, he is automatically upgraded for next season with full playing rights.

Currently he has 313 points, well ahead of the 125th-ranked player. The 24-year-old Lee, who finished in the top 10 at the US Open thus securing his place in the field for the Travelers, is currently a full member of the DP World Tour and in the top five on the points list on that tour.

Tee times AEST KPMG Women's PGA Championship Baltusrol Golf Club, Springfield, NJ

• 9:00PM: Marina Alex, Matilda Castren, Karis Davidson

• 9:11PM: Minami Katsu, Mel Reid, Gabriela Ruffels

• 10:00PM*: Ally Ewing, Stephanie Kyriacou, Pernilla Lindberg

• 10:17PM: In Gee Chun, Hannah Green, Danielle Kang

• 10:22PM*: Eun-Hee Ji, Sarah Kemp, Sung Hyun Park

• 10:39PM: Minjee Lee, Lexi Thompson, Rose Zhang

• 2:27AM* (FRI): Dana Fall, Haeji Kang, Su Oh

• 2:44AM (FRI): Laura Davies, Grace Kim, Ruoning Yin

• 4:01AM (FRI): Jin Young Ko, Lydia Ko (NZ), Nelly Korda

• Defending Champion: In Gee Chun

• Past Aussie Winners: Hannah Green, 2019. Karrie Webb, 2001. Jan Stephenson, 1982.

• TV Fox 505: - Friday 23/06 2am: Live R1 - Friday 23/06 7am: Live R1 - Saturday 24/06 2am: Live R2 - Saturday 24/06 7am: Live R2 - Sunday 25/06 1am: Live R3 - Monday 26/06 1am: Live FR/R4 Kayo: - Friday – Monday: 5AM PGA Tour Travelers Championship TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut, USA.

• 8:45PM*: Austin Eckroat, Austin Smotherman, Min Woo Lee

• 10:05PM*: Davis Riley, Mackenzie Hughes, Cam Davis

• 3:00AM: Jason Day, Sungjae Im, Tommy Fleetwood

• 3:00AM* Nick Hardy, Lucas Herbert, Kevin Kisner

• 3:20AM: Garrick Higgo, Stewart Cink, Adam Scott

• Defending Champion: Xander Schauffele

• Past Aussie Winners: Marc Leishman, 2012. Greg Norman, 1995 (Canon Greater Hartford Open).

• TV Fox 503: - Thursday 22/06 9:30pm: Live Featured Groups R1 - Friday 23/06 5am: Live R1 coverage - Friday 23/06 9:30pm: Live Featured Groups R2 - Saturday 24/06 5am: Live R2 coverage - Sunday 25/06 3am: Live R3 coverage - Monday 26/06 3am: Live FR/R4 coverage Kayo: - Thursday & Friday, 8:30 pm - Saturday & Sunday, 9:30 pm DP World Tour BMW International Open Golfclub München Eichenried, Munich, Germany.

• 7:10PM: Mikael Lindberg, Chase Hanna, Elvis Smylie

• 7:30PM: Gudmundur Kristjansson, Blake Windred, Rikuya Hoshino

• 12:20AM: Tim Wiedemeyer, Alexander Knappe, Daniel Hillier

• Defending Champion: Haotong Li

• Past Aussie Winners: Frank Nobilo, 1995 (NZ). Peter Fowler, 1993.

• Kayo: - Thursday & Friday 8:00 pm - Saturday & Sunday 9:00 pm TV Fox 505: - Thursday 22/06 8:30pm: Live R1 - Friday 23/06 8:30pm: Live R2 TV Fox 503: - Saturday 24/06 9:30pm: Live R3 - Sunday 25/06 9:30pm: Live FR/R4 Ladies European Tour Tipsport Czech Ladies Open Royal Beroun Golf Club

• Whitney Hillier

• Kirsten Rudgeley

• Momoka Kobori (NZ)

• Wenyung Keh (NZ)

• Defending Champion: Jana Melichova (a)

• Past Aussie Winners: nil Legends Tour Irish Legends Seapoint Golf Links, Co Louth, Ireland

• Michael Campbell (NZ)

• Peter Fowler

• Jason Norris

• Michael Long (NZ)

• Defending Champion: Phillip Price.

• Past Aussie Winners: Noel Ratcliffe, 2005 & 2003. (previously Irish Senior Open) Japan Tour Japan Players Championship Nishi Nasuno Country Club

• 8:00AM*: Tomohiro, Ishizaka, Anthony Quayle, Terumichi Kakazu

• 12:20PM*: Takuya Higa, Matthew Griffin, Nobuaki Oda

• 12:30PM*: Andrew Evans, Taiga Mishima, Ren Yonezawa

• 12:40PM*: Tsubasa Ukita, Yusuke Sakamoto, Adam Bland

• Defending Champion: Inamori Yuki Korn Ferry Tour Compliance Solutions Championship Jimmie Austin Ou Golf Club, Norman, Oklahoma, USA.

• 10:57PM: T.J. Vogel, Patrick Fishburn, Dimi Papadatos

• 10:57PM*: Rhein Gibson, Rafael Campos, Joe Highsmith

• 3:30AM*(FRI): Brett Drewitt, Roger Sloan, Dawson Armstrong

• 3:42AM(FRI): Curtis Luck, Mark Anderson, Bo Van Pelt

• 3:54AM(FRI): Steven Bowditch, Heath Slocum, Camilo Villegas

• Defending Champion: first time holding event. Challenge Tour Blot Open De Bretagne Golf Blue Green de Pléneuf Val André, Pléneuf, France.

• 11:00PM: Camille Bordone, Daniel O’Loughlin, Jordan Zunic

• Defending Champion: Alfie Plant

• Past Aussie Winners: Scott Arnold, 2015. PGA Champions Tour DICK’S Sporting Goods Open En-Joie GC, Endicott, New York, USA.

• Stuart Appleby

• Richard Green

• David McKenzie

• Rod Pampling

• John Senden

• Defending Champion: Padraig Harrington

• Past Aussie Winners: nil. Epson Tour Island Resort Championship Harris, Michigan, USA

• Amelia Garvey (NZ)

• Sarah Jane Smith

• Hira Naveed

• Emily Mahar

• Jess Whitting Defending Champion: Ssu-Chia Cheng. Past Aussie Winners: nil. PGA Tour Latinoamerica Jalisco Open GDL Atlas CC, Guadalajara, Mexico

• 10:50PM*: Brett Walker, Harry Hillier, Andres Romero

• 11:00PM: Chris Drysdale, Puma Dominguez, Charlie Hillier

• 5:00AM*(FRI): Griffin Barela, Denzel Ieremia, Roland Massimino

• Defending Champion: Jose De Jesus Rodriguez.

• Past Aussie Winners: nil. PGA Tour Canada Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open presented by Brandt Elk Ridge Resort – Tournament Course, Waskesiu Lake, SK, Canada

• 12:00AM(FRI): Gavin Hall, Jason Hong, Rylee Reinertson

• 1:00AM*(FRI): Jack Trent, Derek Hitchener, Thomas Dunsire

• 4:40AM*(FRI): Cory Crawford, Andrew Garner, Logan Perkins

• Defending Champion: nil.

• Past Aussie Winners: nil. Asian Tour The 65th Kolon Korea Open Golf Championship Woo Jeong Hills Country Club

• 6:03AM: Zach Murray, Hanmil Jung, Jaeyoung Koo

• 6:25AM*: Taehoon Kim, Kyungnam Kang, Kevin Yuan

• 10:30AM: Minkyu Kim, Junseok Lee, Minchel Choi

• 11:03AM: Scott Hend, Kyongjun Moon, Bio Kim

• 11:25AM: Brendan Jones, Doyeob Mun, Hyungjoon Lee

• 11:36AM: Wonjoon Lee, Jeongwoo Ham, Hongtaek Kim

• 11:36AM*: Terry Pilkadaris, Jarin Todd, Doohwan Bang

• Defending Champion: Minkyu Kim

• Previous Aussie Winners: Jun Seok Lee, 2021.