Three down and many more left to go, Hannah Green is proving the 2024 season to be her best so far. The Australian pro won the BMW Ladies Championship, marking her third victory after winning the JM Eagle LA Championship and the HSBC Women’s World Championship earlier. In both her first and third victories of the year, the top two players on the leaderboard were the same: Green in first, followed by Celine Boutier in second.

Unlike in 2023, the French pro hasn’t won any events this season but has had two runner-up finishes behind Green. After the Oz Pro won the event, at the press conference, she was asked several questions at the press conference, including two notable ones: Since there was no scoreboard on the last holes, did Green know Boutier was closing in, and did she owe an apology for stealing the title from Boutier twice this year? After contemplating the question, the 6-time LPGA Tour winner explained that there was a leaderboard near the 9th hole, and she saw Chanettee Wannasaen sinking good putts.

However, Green was aware of how tough the back nine would be. She focused on staying patient, despite the high wind, and making more birdies along with a few pars. She checked the leaderboard again on the 14th and 16th holes. When she reached the 17th hole and drained another birdie, she turned to her caddie, Nate Blasko, to ask if she was one shot ahead of Wannasaen and Boutier. Up until then, Green didn’t know how close she was to winning. She was, indeed, in the lead, and with a final two-putt, Green was announced the winner. She said, “It was nice to have the 2-putt to be able to win the championship.”

So, yes, she did defeat Boutier’s chances of winning an event twice this year. Although she didn’t apologize for that, Green had some appreciative words for the two players trailing behind her. She said, “Celine and Chanettee both played really well today, and I did not see a score like that out there with those conditions.” With Boutier and Green’s rivalry being well and alive, how did she beat her the first time?

Overview of Hannah Green defeating Celine Botuier in 2024

Interestingly, whenever Hannah Green and Celine Boutier start surging on the final day of an event like they did at the BMW Ladies Championship and HSBC Women’s World Championship, Boutier tends to have a better Sunday round than Green, yet fails to win the event.

In Seowon-gil, the Aussie pro struggled compared to her first two rounds of 64, posting only 3 birdies and 2 bogeys for a final-round score of 1-under 71. On the other hand, Boutier started with a birdie on the first hole and then shot a bogey-free round, carding five birdies on the back nine to finish 6-under 66.

At the HSBC Women’s World Championship, though, it was a little different. Boutier had a bogey-free round, but Green didn’t, yet the French pro was still one stroke away from winning the title. So, while Green doesn’t need to apologize for always getting a 1-stroke victory over Boutier, for the French pro, the victories missed by just one stroke might sting more than anything.