HANNAH Green’s day began with plenty of sighs and sulks, mainly because of her poor execution of shots at Sentosa Golf Club’s Tanjong course.

The day ended in pure jubilation as the 27-year-old Australian shot three birdies, including a world-class putt on the final hole, to claim this year’s HSBC Women’s World Championship on Sunday (Mar 3), pocketing a cheque of US$270,000 in the process.

From about 30 feet, Green – who started the day in second place behind Japan’s Ayaka Furue – rolled a perfect putt that decelerated and just dropped into the hole, a feat that sealed a one-shot win over France’s Celine Boutier.

The massive crowd roared as Green raised her right hand as a group of players spontaneously rushed forward and drenched the winner with champagne.

Boutier missed that decisive putt as she was on the practice green, preparing for what looked at the time like a two-way play-off. But once she heard the thunderous cheers, she knew that the world No 29 Green had outmatched her.

Said Green: “I knew I needed to at least birdie the last to win by one. As soon as the putt went in, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve won!’ You have to take these highs when they come because it doesn’t always come and golf can be a learning sport sometimes.”

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“Celine played great today but she didn’t end up with the trophy in her hands. But she should still be proud of how she performed under the pressure.”

Boutier said: “I knew my putt (on the 17th) was going to be important but it ended up being short. It was frustrating. I gave myself chances. I made some putts and also missed some. But such things happen and I can’t be too mad about my round today.”

Favourites fell

All the talk before the tournament was if defending champion Ko Jinyoung of South Korea could make it three wins in a row in Singapore, or if Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit would claim her third straight title this season after triumphs in the Saudi International and the LPGA Thailand events.

Those did not materialise as both women finished tied-eighth, six strokes behind Green who, ironically, shot her third straight 67 for a 13-under 275 total.

The consensus was that Green was a deserving winner in a round of six birdies and a lone bogey on the 399-yard 10th after driving far right and relying on a punched second shot that ran past the hole into the rough.

Her birdies were conjured by impeccable putting, a mix of line-reading and pace at its brilliant best.

Shuffling positions

On a wet day with the occasional light sunshine, the regular shuffling of the leading five players kept the fans’ interest going strong.

Furue, the overnight leader by two, could not get to grips with a nervous showing that saw her amassing only pars for 13 holes and struggling to keep her perch. After a birdie on the 366-yard 14th hole, she collapsed with a bogey on the next hole, a 181-yard par-three that saw her four-hybrid first shot find the bunker edge.

A solid drive and a fabulous three-wood placed her comfortably 40 yards from the pin on the par-five 459-yard 16th. But a poor chip resulted in her collecting only a par. Worse was still to come as the Japanese three-putted for bogey on the par-three 17th. She failed to get out of the bunker on the first attempt and suffered a double-bogey on the last hole to languish in joint-eighth after a 75.

World No 1 Lilia Vu, who started the day five shots back of the lead, withdrew during her final round because of illness.

Singapore had something to be proud of as the country’s only qualifier Chen Xing Tong shot a remarkable 72 after rounds of 76-76-82.