JM Eagle LA Championship: Hannah Green clinches playoff glory to win new LPGA event | Golf News

Hannah Green claimed her third LPGA success and first since 2019 after defeating Xiyu Lin and Aditi Ashok in a playoff for the inaugural JM Eagle LA Championship title at Wiltshire Country club

Hannah Green celebrates after securing the inaugural LA Championship with a playoff victory

Hannah Green outlasted Xiyu Lin and Aditi Ashok over two playoff holes to win the inaugural JM Eagle LA Championship on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Green, Lin and Ashok finished 72 holes at nine-under 275 at Wilshire Country Club. They re-played the par-three 18th hole until Green was the last woman standing.

It marked the Australian’s third career LPGA title and her first since the Cambia Portland Classic in 2019.

“It’s been a long few years, and I played really well last year, but getting across the line has been really difficult,” Green said.

“I’m really proud of myself for hanging in there because I really didn’t think that I’d be in it with how I was playing and making so many pars.”

On the first playoff hole, Green stuck her tee shot inside six feet, much closer than her competitors. Ashok was furthest from the pin and watched her birdie putt lip out. Lin made a relatively straight putt and Green did the same to extend the playoff.

On the second trip, Lin’s tee shot missed far right and landed in a bunker, while Green was on the green but farther than her first attempt. Lin got out of the bunker and missed a long par putt, allowing Green’s two-putt par to clinch the win.

Xiyu Lin posted a 67 in the final round to force a playoff

Lin, Ashok and Green all birdied the 18th in regulation to reach nine-under. Lin and Ashok finished their rounds first to set the clubhouse lead, and Green later sank a long-distance birdie putt to join them.

Green shot a two-under 69 in her final round, making 16 pars and just two birdies at holes 15 and 18. Lin and Ashok posted matching 67s.

Ashok, a four-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, was looking for her first win stateside. She had bogeyed the par-four 17th hole and needed the bounce-back birdie at hole 18 to make the playoff.

“Especially after bogeying 17, I just wanted to get that shot back, so that kind of motivated me to birdie 18,” Ashok said.

Aditi Ashok missed out on the title in the first hole of the playoff

“I hit the same shot in the playoff, too, but it just kind of stopped really quick. It pitched in the same place during regulation, and it released all the way.”

Ayaka Furue tied for the low round of the day, a six-under 65, to finish at eight-under 276 and tie for fourth with China’s Ruoning Yin (67).

Nelly Korda (67) tied for sixth at seven-under with Cheyenn Knight, who stumbled to a 73 after sleeping on the 54-hole lead, and South Korea’s Hae Ran Ryu (72).

Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland