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The Australian quartet of Lee, Hannah Green, Gracer Kim, all major champions, and rising star Steph Kyriacou showed the benefits of a bond formed at dinners and just “hanging out” all year to down first the combined world team then the might of the USA in a full-on final day. Lee, the world No.3 who added a third major to her glittering resume this year, put Australia 1-0 in front with a 2 & 1 triumph over Angel Yin in the opening singles match of the final before fellow Green nailed the tie with another 2 & 1 victory over Yealimi Noh with Kim and Kyriacou not needed to finish the match they were leading. Kim, who took out the 2025 Evian Championship to join Australia’s roll call of major winners, said being able to lean on her mentors so often was making her get better fast and their success was why golf was in such a strong position. “Only being my third year out here and having this much success, I think it just shows how much Australian golf has brought us -- how far it has brought us, not only just the backing we have back at home but the players out here. They just know how it can be lonely, it cannot be as glamorous as it looks on TV,” she said. “So the older girls like Minjee and Hannah, like I’ve said before, they’ve been there and done that before. They know what it’s going to be like for us to feel what a third year might be like. “Just being able to rely on these girls have been, I guess, yeah, really successful in our sense, in our bonding and our friendship. Yeah, I think really settles the mind a lot just being able to message them whenever I can just for a little bit of help or even just being there. Yeah, just to be able to spend some time with them definitely brings a lot of success in our team.” Green has had an indifferent 2025, dropping out of the world’s top 10 but came good when it mattered most, winning her only point for the tournament in the final. “I feel like I played probably my best golf today,” she said. “My putt on the last hole, I was very nervous. I knew exactly what it was for. I said to the girls, I was just happy I got on the board. I’m glad I could contribute in some way this week.” Kyriacou, the only member of the quartet not to have yet posted an LPGA tour win, said it was a benefit for the Australians to be so close as they travelled the world together so often. “I definitely think it helps. We all can tolerate each other pretty well,” she said., “We hang out on and off the golf course most weeks, so I think just having that team bonding early helps us. “I think, Greeny or Minjee touched on it earlier in the week, it was kind of hard to pick the pairings because it doesn’t really matter who we play with kind of thing. Yeah, it makes the days easier. It makes it a little more enjoyable. It makes it walking up those hills a little bit easier.”
