Much to the delight of the local gallery, fan-favorite Charley Hull made a Moving Day charge at the AIG Women’s Open, posting a third-round 66 to hurry up the leaderboard at Royal Porthcawl.
She carded a 73 in Thursday’s first round and then managed a 71 on Friday to sit at even par heading into the weekend, 11 shots behind 36-hole leader Miyu Yamashita. With a vast deficit to try and make up, the two-time LPGA Tour winner went to work on Saturday in Wales, quickly making a birdie on the par-4 2nd hole to move into red numbers for the tournament.
Hull rattled off three straight birdies on the par-3 5th, par-5 6th and par-4 7th holes to race out to 4-under, landing one final front-nine birdie on the par-5 9th hole to turn in 31 at 5-under overall. A pair of back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13 sent Hull soaring up the leaderboard to 7-under, but her progress was stalled out by a bogey on 14, a misstep that dropped the Englishwoman back to 6-under.
Hull then grinded out four closing pars on the final holes at Porthcawl to post a 66 and move both into the top five on the scoreboard and within three shots of 54-hole leader Miyu Yamashita with 18 holes remaining at the fifth and final major championship of the 2025 LPGA Tour season.
“I hit in the bunker on the first and made a good up and down there,” Hull said in assessment of her third round. “Then, I just made birdies when I gave myself an opportunity to make a birdie, apart from the last hole. It was a quite tricky putt. It was down the hill, and it was off the right, the wind, but it was a little bit left-to-right and a little bit right-to-left.
“Usually, (I would) just hit a firm putt straight at the hole and take the break out, but where it was downhill and a little bit downwind as well, just dribbled it a little bit left and it broke on me. That was about it, really.”
Hull is no stranger to contending on Sunday in majors, having either held the lead or been sitting within five of the lead entering the final round seven times in major championships throughout her LPGA Tour career. She most recently did so in 2024 at the AIG Women’s Open at the Old Course at St Andrews, ultimately tying for 20th after a final-round 75 at the Home of Golf.
While she claimed in her pre-tournament press conference that traditional links golf doesn’t suit her game as well as tree-lined layouts do, Hull has managed a wind-swept Porthcawl fairly well throughout the week at the AIG Women’s Open, making 17 birdies to just nine bogeys and one double bogey across 54 holes. She had the fewest putts of anybody in round three, hitting just 23 over the course of the day, and is tied for first in fewest putts this week, only making 81 strokes thus far with her flat stick.
With difficult conditions on the way in the final round, as rain and wind are forecasted to plague the 71 players with Sunday tee times in Wales, Hull will need to be more than up to what’s set to be a difficult task at Royal Porthcawl.
But a three-shot deficit isn’t insurmountable by any means, and just like she has so many other times, Hull plans to punch the gas in dogged pursuit of the top of the leaderboard, trying to hunt down one of the tournaments she is hungriest to win and having everything to gain from a come-from-behind major triumph in front of a friendly crowd at the 2025 AIG Women’s Open.
“Yeah, 100 percent. I haven’t got nothing to lose, have I?” said Hull about going after a victory, later continuing when asked what’s the most fun part of chasing, “I don’t know. Just going out there and enjoy playing golf. Kind of like playing golf with your mates. You just want to make birdies on every hole. That’s how it feels tomorrow.”
