Charley Hull charged up the leaderboard on moving day at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally.
The Englishwoman blitzed The Riviera Country Club in the third round, firing a 65 (-6) to move into the top 10 with 18 holes remaining at the year’s second major championship. Hull began the day in a tie for 45th at 3-over, barely making the cut after posting a first-round 73 and a second-round 72.
The three-time LPGA Tour winner came out swinging early in round three, getting up and down for birdie on the par-5 first hole to get back to 2-over for the tournament. The 30-year-old then landed a one-two punch of birdies on the par-3 sixth and par-4 seventh holes, stuffing her tee shot to seven feet on the former and burying a 10-foot putt on the latter to climb to 3-under for the day and move to even par overall.
Hull’s tee ball on the drivable, par-4 10th hole wound up pin high, and she once again easily got up and down to tally her fourth birdie of round three, which left her sitting at 1-under total. Charley’s lone mistake of the day then came on 13, but she recovered immediately with a birdie on the par-3 14th hole, knocking her tee shot to four feet and burying the resulting birdie putt.
The two-time Olympian ultimately closed out her round with a pair of back-to-back birdies, finding the green in two and two-putting for birdie on the par-5 17th and then rolling in a seven-foot birdie putt on the last to post the lowest round of her major championship career.
“I felt like it was quite scoreable out there. Got quite firm, I think, as well. Just felt like I went at everything,” said Hull in assessment of her third round, later continuing, “I played really decent actually the first two days tee-to-green. Just couldn’t get a putt. So just stuck in there and went at everything today. Just thought (redacted) it.”
Her Saturday 65 was reminiscent of the 66 Hull shot in the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open that was held at Pebble Beach Golf Links back in 2023, a six-under effort that saw Charley tie for second alongside Jiyai Shin after finishing three strokes off the pace of champion Allisen Corpuz, what is still Hull’s best finish in this major championship in her 11 previous starts.
Considering her superstardom and her propensity for contending at difficult golf courses, it’s a bit surprising that a major title has continued to elude Hull for as long as it has. Including that T2 at Pebble, Charley has earned seven top-six results in majors since 2016, the most recent of which came at the 2025 AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales.
Of those oh-so-close opportunities, Hull’s best chance at a major triumph felt like it could have been in her home country at Walton Heath in 2023, but the Englishwoman just ran into the Lilia Vu buzzsaw that week in front of a friendly crowd just down the way from where she grew up, coming in solo second after falling to the American by six strokes.
Hull now has another opportunity to shed the “best player never to have won a major” moniker on Sunday at Riviera, having put herself in position to contend for the Harton S. Semple trophy after carding the low round of the week at this iconic property.
And while she will likely be chasing entering the final round in Hollywood, that position is one in which Hull relishes finding herself, a fact that puts any 54-hole lead held by any athlete very much in danger of being overtaken by the British star coming down the stretch in the City of Stars.
