‘Crazy’ birdie run lifts Hall’s ambitions

Share of second place is reward for 21-year-old Three other English players in race for title

When Georgia Hall started this fortnight featuring two big events on home soil, her mission was to cement her place in the Solheim Cup. Yet at the halfway point of the Ricoh Women’s British Open, the 21-year-old from Bournemouth has raised her ambitions somewhat.

A brilliant second-round 67 hauled Hall to nine-under and into a share of second with world No2 Lexi Thompson, two off the lead of Korean In-kyung Kim. If Hall carries on in this vein, Kingsbarns could well witness the crowning of a new queen of English golf.

Annika Sorenstam will be highly delighted. The Europe captain, who will try to win back the female equivalent of the Ryder Cup in Iowa in two weeks’ time, saw Hall nail down her berth with a top 10 at the Ladies Scottish Open. This is another step up again for the player ranked 85th in the world and she took a huge leap in yesterday’s opening holes. “I’ve never had four birdies in a row in a tournament before,” Hall said, reflecting on the stunning quartet she began from the second. “People have told me that was like ‘crazy golf ’, but it wasn’t. I’m actually rubbish at ‘crazy golf ’ and whenever anybody challenges me at it, I lose.”

Hall’s temperament is not unlike that of Jordan Spieth, and she took inspiration from his Open win as she aims to become the first English winner of the British major in 13 years. “Jordan proved you just don’t give up if you want it badly enough,” Hall said. Gary Player also played by this mantra, and Hall recently had 18 holes with the living legend at Wentworth. “That was great,” Hall said. “Gary told me I should never feel sorry for myself and just chuck it in. That was big to me, you know. My head is certainly not going to drop here if I have a bad hole.”

Thompson will be a formidable foe as she tries to atone for that cruel defeat at the ANA Inspiration because of a rules controversy. So will Kim, who has two runner-up placings on her impressive resume.

Hall will surely be helped by the fact there are at least three other countrywomen in contention to share the focus, despite Scotland’s Catriona Matthew, the last Briton to win this event in 2009, missing the cut along with Thailand’s defending champion, Ariya Jutanugarn.