Charley Hull’s immense talent has been impossible to ignore since she stormed on the scene at the 2013 Solheim Cup with a dominant victory over Paula Creamer as the youngest player in Solheim Cup history at 17 years old. However, there’s still going to be mistakes that bring growing pains along the way, and Hull got that experience firsthand last week at the RACV Masters when she stormed into the lead and seemed in control of the tournament but made a triple bogey at the 8th hole.
She had a four-putt on the sixth hole here Thursday as well in an otherwise splendid 2-under 71 and was asked after her round Friday if she felt she was having problems putting a full round together.
“No, I just four putted that hole and it just didn’t go in and then I had a couple of three-putts as well. Probably it’s just learning from experience,” Hull said sagely. “I just feel like sometimes I can get a bit ahead of myself and do silly stuff like that, but I feel like I concentrate well after and try and get them back, like I usually make birdie a couple of holes after. So I do think that four-putt cost me quite a few shots, but at the end of the day, I’ve learned from it so hopefully it won’t happen again.”
Last year Hull recorded a top-10 in a major and 2-1 record in the Solheim Cup and she is enjoying the big Aussie crowds out this week to watch her and Ko in the featured pairing.
“I enjoy being in front of the big crowds. It feels really good, I enjoy it,” Hull said.
Despite being in contention the last two weeks, Hull is in a transition stage and hasn’t felt as comfortable as normal with her game.
“I just changed my swing coach six weeks ago. I’m still working on my swing and that’s why some of my iron shots are a bit off, because I still haven’t got my feel about my three-quarter shots to cut or draw a few balls in,” Hull said. “Hopefully towards the weekend, I’m going to do a bit more range practice and get a bit more feel.”
Signs of an enduring rivalry
Each of the last two days, Charley Hull and Lydia Ko have teed it up in the same pairing. It’s a pairing fans can expect to see many times in the years to come and it’s easily one of the strongest teen pairings in golf history. No. 1 in the world and No. 1 on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit a year ago playing alongside each other, both in the top five on the leader board.
“I enjoy playing with Lydia. I’ve played with her quite a bit over the past two years,” Hull said. “I first played with her two years ago straight after the Solheim Cup in the Canadian Open and we both played well, both like at the top of the leaderboard in the first two rounds, so I have good memories playing with Lydia and I enjoy it.”
The two styles differ. Hull overpowers golf courses, mashing it 280 yards down the middle and aggressively attacking pins. Ko plays a safer, shorter game, frequently having to hit hybrids into holes on her second shots, but might have the best short game on Tour.
