Hannah Green’s ascension into the elite of world golf has been further acknowledged with a second Greg Norman Medal at the PGA Awards Gala Dinner on Tuesday night.
More than 350 guests attended the glittering awards ceremony at Brisbane City Hall that serves as a precursor to the BMW Australian PGA Championship, with Green’s Greg Norman Medal win among a total of 10 awards presented throughout the evening.
The West Australian climbed to a career-high No.5 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking on the back of three LPGA Tour wins in 2024, the 27-year-old’s greatest single-season yield in her career to date.
Green won the Greg Norman Medal in 2019 when she had two wins – including the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – and was honoured to once again receive Australian golf’s highest accolade.
“It has undoubtedly been one of the best years of my career and to cap it with a second Greg Norman Medal makes it all the more special,” said Green, who was unable to attend the PGA Awards as she is playing the season-ending LPGA event in Florida this week.
“Any year in which you have a win is a good year so to have three in the one season is very satisfying – and I’d love to finish off with another one at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open next week.
“I would like to thank everyone in my team, my husband Jarryd, my family and friends for their support this year.
“I feel like I have taken a major step forward in 2024 and hope that I can finish off the year well and take that into 2025 and beyond.”
It took just two starts for Green to earn her first win of 2024, storming home to win the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Thailand in March.
She staged a successful defence of her JM Eagle LA Championship crown in April and became the first Australian since Karrie Webb in 2006 to notch three wins in a single LPGA season with a wire-to-wire win at the BMW Ladies Championship in Korea.
On hand to accept the Greg Norman Medal on Green’s behalf was her coach, Ritchie Smith, who himself was named PGA National Coach of the Year – High Performance.
It is a fourth national win for Smith, who also received the High Performance gong in 2014, 2019 and 2021 and in 2024 had three players – Green, Minjee Lee and Min Woo Lee – represent Australia at the Paris Olympics.
The Brisbane Golf Club’s Asha Flynn won the PGA National Coach of the Year – Game Development gong for the second year in succession while Catalina Club’s Rodney Booth was named 2024 PGA National Club Professional of the Year.
General Manager at Eastlake Golf Club, Robert Blain was awarded PGA National Management Professional of the Year and Ashley Marsay was named International Member of the Year for his contribution as Head Professional at San Francisco Golf Club.
Three-time winner and Order of Merit champion Kazuma Kobori was named Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Player of the Year, LPGA Tour-bound Cassie Porter received her first Margie Masters WPGA Tour of Australasia Player of the Year award and Andre Stolz was named PGA Legends Tour Player of the Year for the fourth straight year.
2024 PGA Awards winners
Greg Norman Medal: Hannah Green
PGA National Coach of the Year – High Performance: Ritchie Smith (Royal Fremantle GC)
PGA National Coach of the Year – Game Development: Asha Flynn (Brisbane GC)
PGA National Club Professional of the Year: Rodney Booth (Catalina Club G&CC)
PGA National Management Professional of the Year: Robert Blain (Eastlake GC)
MyGolf Deliverer of the Year: Jake Newbery (KDV Sport)
International Member of the Year: Ashley Marsay (San Francisco Golf Club)
Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Player of the Year: Kazuma Kobori
Margie Masters WPGA Tour of Australasia Player of the Year: Cassie Porter
Legends Tour Player of the Year: Andre Stolz
Recent Greg Norman Medal winners
2023: Minjee Lee
2022: Cameron Smith
2021: Minjee Lee
2020: Cameron Smith
2019: Hannah Green
STORY: TONY WEBECK | PGA AUSTRALIA