Hull overcomes Olympic setback to qualify for women’s tournament
Britain’s Charlie Hull is one of a handful of European contenders competing in the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews this week, having appeared to snap a slump following a disastrous start to her Olympic preparations by shooting 81 earlier this month.
The 28-year-old from Kettering has played her last three rounds at Le Golf National at eight under par, but a poor start would have left her in medal contention. Hull then allayed concerns about her relatively poor form with an encouraging performance at the Scottish Open in Dundonald last week.
Unhurriedly, she is now dreaming of her first major victory in the home of golf. To achieve this she will need to perform better than last year, when she came second to Lilia Wu at Walton Heath. “It would be very special, it would be incredible,” she told BBC Sport after getting goosebumps walking down the famous 18th hole during practice. Hull said he would be asking cadet Adam Woodward for some “tough” instruction to counter the adverse effects of the often deceptive appearances at the Open on the Old Course. Hull also worked on a lower ball flight to counter the expected high winds. Last week, they worked well in Airchair and showed their trends on the course they first participated in cheese teenagers in 2013.
\\ said, “When I was more mature in golf games, I understood it more and said I was playing better,” said Hull. “When I finished fifth last week I understood a bit more about how I play golf, which is good.”
The world number 10 will play her seventh Solheim Cup next month, with most of her potential European teammates battling for the form needed to win the trophy on the continent for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year.
The memories take me back to 2021, when Anna Nordqvist recorded a sensational win at Carnoustie. She led a European charge that culminated in perhaps the continent’s biggest Solheim Cup success.
The Swede beat compatriot Madelene Sagström and Briton Georgia Hall, while Danish Nanna Kerts Madsen also finished in the top five on the Angus course. Then, the European captain Catherion Matthew praised the results as an ideal increase in confidence before his team went to Toledo, without any support because of restrictions on the cycle and does not hold a feeling of the trophy.
This week, the current captain Suzann Petersen desperately needs a similar speech to increase his hopes to preserve a precious piece of crystal. The European and American teams will be finalised next week in early September in Virginia, so there is no way we can look back at the event here without Salheim leading the way. Petersen should be worried. The leading tennis player in Europe is world number 8 Celine Boutier, but despite the bright start to her Olympic career, the Frenchwoman is far from her best results. She has not finished in the top 10 since finishing second at the world championships in March. Hall has dropped to 40th in the world and has only one top 10 finish this year, a third-place finish in the Aramco Series at the Centurion Club in July. The 2018 champion from Dorset finished 12th last week, a somewhat encouraging result. But Maia Stark, heroine of the finca draw Cortesin from last year, failed to qualify in Dundonald and 10th place in the Swedish in Paris was her only Top 10 since April.
Leona Maguire is another athlete who fought despite the victory of the Aramco tournament. Since then, Irish star Solheim has failed to finish in the top 50 in four tournaments.
Spaniard Carlota Ciganda has not performed well since finishing sixth at the Chevron Championship in April, and Sagstrom has not finished in the top 10 since May. Germany’s Estelle Henseleit is preparing to make her debut at Solheim in Virginia after winning an Olympic silver medal and finishing runner-up at Dundonald, bucking the trend of poor skiers for Europe’s top athletes this summer. Henseleit was defeated by American summer star Lauren Coughlin in her Solheim debut last week. The season has been a revelation for the 31-year-old, who won the Scottish Open for her second LPGA Tour victory in three events, and finished in the top 50 for the first time with a fourth-place finish at the Evian Championship in July. She is one of the favourites to win this week, but the same can be said for Wu, who has missed most of the season with injury, and the American star will be looking to defend her title, but the Old Course will present a very different test to that of Walton Heath 12 months ago. World number one Nelly Korda won six events in seven outings earlier this season, including the Chevron, the first major of the year. But since then her form has cooled considerably. Of course, it would be ideal if Solheim wasn’t in charge of New Zealand’s gold medal-winning Lydia Co-Olympics. Also Watch: Amy Young, Hannah Green, Ying Luoning and Sayaka Furuya are some of the key players reflecting the growth of LPGA golf.