[PHOTO: Harry How/Getty Images]
Hannah Green has displaced Minjee Lee as Australia’s top-ranked female player and jumped into the top 10 in the world for the first time.
Green’s victory in Los Angeles last weekend, her second win of the LPGA Tour season, saw her jump from 18th to No.8 in the world ranking.
Lee, who has been ranked as high as No.2 in the world, fell to ninth after missing the cut in LA, her second consecutive missed cut. She has been the top-ranked Aussie for all but one week – in 2021 – in the past nine years.
For the 27-year-old Green, inclusion in the world’s top 10 has been a long-time goal. Her previous high was 13th in 2021.
This week she joined Karrie Webb, Jan Stephenson, Minjee Lee and Rachel Hetherington among Australians to have won at least five times on the LPGA Tour.
It will be a spur for fellow Perth superstar Lee, who first took over as the top-ranked Australian when she moved past Karrie Webb in 2015.
For Green, the victory in LA all but confirms her place in the Australian Olympic team for Paris alongside Lee – the same pairing that represented their country in Japan three years ago, when Green narrowly missed out on a medal.
Both Green and Lee are entered to play in the Cognizant Founders Cup in New Jersey this weekend.
Australian world rankings
8 Hannah Green
9 Minjee Lee
82 Grace Kim
83 Gabriela Ruffels
88 Stephanie Kyriacou
114 Hira Naveed
137 Sarah Kemp