It was a fight to the finish in the race to win the 2013 Rolex Rookie of the Year Award on the Ladies European Tour, but 17-year-old Charley Hull prevailed finishing just above Holly Clyburn on the ISPS HANDA Order of Merit, thereby earning a Rolex watch.
Hull finished in a tie for eighth at the season-ending Omega Dubai Ladies Masters, while Clyburn ended in joint 39th position.
The young English pair has one of the tightest rookie battles ever seen on the LET, finishing sixth and seventh on the ISPS HANDA Order of Merit with earnings of €135,994.36 and €116,100.83 respectively.
“It’s an honour to win it,” said Hull. “I think I’ve had tough competition in Holly, she’s a great player and you can see in the future, me and Holly battling it out, which I think is good. Means a lot and it’s been good fun. Solheim was great and all my second place finishes, so it was good to top it off with that.”
The award capped an outstanding first year on Tour for Hull, who is the LET’s youngest member. Hull turned professional in January 2013 and was started her first year as a pro with a run of five straight second places. She was then selected by Captain Liselotte Neumann to represent Europe in The Solheim Cup and was part of the first European team to beat the Americans on home soil in The Solheim Cup in Colorado. The youngest ever Solheim Cup player then defeated Paula Creamer 5&4 in the singles. She posted 10 top ten finishes in 15 appearances on the LET this year.
Hull is now looking forward to Christmas at home before heading to Australia and on her future goals, she added: “It would be pretty awesome if I could win a major next year. I think that’s any golfer’s dream.
“At the moment I’m just concentrating on golf. But I think it’s amazing to see all different cultures on stuff which you see on the Ladies European Tour, because you go to different countries every week, which is fantastic.”
