Charley Hull is hoping to ride the wave of English success following Danny Willett’s ‘sweet’ victory at the Masters Tournament at Augusta National.
With Lee Westwood tied for second, Paul Casey joint fourth, Matthew Fitzpatrick joint seventh and Justin Rose tied for 10th, there were five English golfers in the top 10 of the first men’s Major Championship of 2016.
Hull is no stranger to success as the joint runner-up to Lydia Ko at the ANA Inspiration, the first women’s Major of 2016, at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California a week earlier. The Englishwoman was making her fourth appearance at Mission Hills Country Club, where she made the cut on her professional debut in 2012.
By achieving her best finish in a Major Championship, the 20-year-old from Kettering climbed 16 places to 25th, her highest ever position on the Women’s World Ranking.
After a joint fourth place finish at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Australian Open in February, Hull is also lying second on the Ladies European Tour’s Order of Merit, which she won in 2014, the same year that she won the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco. She believes that she can go on to even greater things with the help of the boost in confidence that performing well at a Major Championship will give her.
The next women’s Major is the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club on June 9-12, followed by the US Women’s Open at CordeValle on July 7-10, but Hull is really looking forward to the Ricoh Women’s British Open, which will be played at her home club Woburn, on July 28-31, followed by the fifth and final women’s Major of 2016: the Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in France on September 15-18.
The golden girl of English golf is just one of several players ready to contend in the Majors in 2016, along with Holly Clyburn ( far above), who is currently fifth on the LET Order of Merit and Georgia Hall (above), tied for seventh.
England’s Melissa Reid (above), who finished second on the 2015 Order of Merit after claiming her fifth Ladies European Tour title in Turkey last year, is another Briton ready to strike along with Hannah Burke (below), the Tipsport Ladies Masters champion in the Czech Republic last year.
Other players who will have been inspired by the performance of former fellow England teammate Danny Willett are Liz Young (below) and Florentyna Parker, who went on several trips around the world together.
Meanwhile Dame Laura Davies and Trish Johnson are still a threat in the Majors and will also be looking to do well, particularly on home soil at the Ricoh Women’s British Open this year.
