Hannah Green Wins JM Eagle LA Championship in Playoff

LOS ANGELES -- Hannah Green won the JM Eagle LA Championship on Sunday for the third time in four years and the first at El Caballero, holing a 12-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole after a back-nine comeback. Six strokes behind playing partner Sei Young Kim for a few moments on the 11th green, Green closed with a 4-under 68 to match Kim (70) and Jin Hee Im (67) at 17-under 271 on the tree-lined layout. In the playoff on the par-4 18th, Green hit a wedge from 130 yards and curled in the right-to-left breaking putt after Kim -- eight strokes ahead with five holes to go Saturday in the third round -- left a 35-foot birdie try short. Im -- penalized a stroke for slow play Saturday -- reached the green in three after hitting her drive to the right. Green also won the event in 2023 and 2024 at Wilshire Country Club. The 29-year-old Australian player joined Hyo Joo Kim as the only two-time winners this season on the LPGA Tour and ran her worldwide 2026 victory total to four. Green has eight career LPGA Tour victories. She won the tour's HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore early last month and also took the Women's Australian Open and Australian WPGA. The tournament was played at El Caballero for the second straight year because of course renovations at Wilshire. The Chevron Championship, the first women's major of the year, will start Thursday in Houston. After Kim chipped in for eagle on the 11th to leave Green six shots back, Green followed with a birdie on the hole to get a shot back. She then birdied Nos. 13-16 and pulled even with Kim and Im -- who made a 60-footer for eagle on 16 -- when Kim bogeyed the par-3 17th. Ina Yoon was a stroke out of the playoff after a 69. She eagled the 16th, birdied the 17th and nearly holed a 30-foot birdie try on 18, Former UCLA star Patty Tavatanakit (70) was 14 under with Haeran Ryu (66). First-round leader Chizzy Iwai (70) was 12 under with Minami Katsu (68).