No practice, no problem for jet-lagged Green at Australian Open

It was a case of no practice, no problem for Hannah Green at the Australian Open on Thursday as the major winner shrugged off jet-lag to shoot a brilliant 67 at Kingston Heath and lie one stroke off the lead after the first round.

Green was among a raft of golfers who played the LPGA Tour's season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Florida on Sunday and dashed Down Under to compete for Australia's most prestigious golf trophy at the dual gender event.

They arrived bleary-eyed at Melbourne's sandbelt on Wednesday but their hopes of getting a practice round in were dashed by an afternoon storm that halted the pro-am.

Relying on adrenalin and foggy memories of the tournament two years ago which was also played at Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Club, Green rolled in seven birdies in breezy afternoon conditions to finish up one stroke behind co-leaders Su Oh and Yang Hyo-jin.

"Towards the last couple of hours I felt like I didn't really know where I was," the 27-year-old told reporters.

"(It was) kind of was hard to remember what the course was like because obviously I didn't get to see it.

"But yeah, it was obviously a really good round," added Green, whose sole major triumph came at the Women's PGA Championship in 2019 at Hazeltine National.

Green will have to reach deep into the memory bank again on Friday when she tees off in the morning at Victoria Golf Club, hoping to become the first home winner at the event since Karrie Webb in 2014.

Jet-lag might actually work out for her again.

"I managed to stay awake till nine o'clock yesterday and then this morning I actually went out for breakfast, so I woke up at a reasonable time," she added.

"But I think obviously I have an early start tomorrow and I think because I'm still a bit out of whack with my time zone, it actually won't be too difficult to wake up in the fours or the fives."