‘I was thinking how incredible it would be to have two No1s’
England’s Georgia Hall wants to join Justin Rose at the top of the world, she tells James Corrigan ‘I don’t care if I win 10 majors, it won’t alter me’
The problem with career-changing wins is that they have the propensity to change the person as well. Georgia Hall is acutely aware of this as she heads into the first major since she lifted the Women’s British Open title at Royal Lytham & St Annes last month.
“I don’t care if I win 10 of these things, it won’t alter me,” Hall says. “I’ve seen it happen to other people after they achieved this or that but, in my opinion, everyone is the same whatever they’ve done, and I can assure you, it won’t ever happen to be me.”
Hall’s declaration is made with a tone of utter certainty. The 22-year-old reveals that “life has been pretty crazy, a whirlwind” for the past five weeks, but when she has shut the door, it has remained the same Georgia.
“I’ve been asked what has changed in my life since the British but, away from the course, apart from a few more people recognising me and coming up for autographs and selfies, nothing has changed in my life and me being exactly who I was before,” she says. “And I’m happy with that. I don’t ever want it to change.”
The challenge to stay grounded could soon be complicated still further. Hall is one of the favourites at the Evian Championship, in the high-market French spa town of Evian-les-bains, and that is not just because of her heroics in Lytham, where she became the first English female winner of a major in 14 years, or because she finished 10th on her Evian debut 12 months ago.
By coming second on the LPGA Tour in Oregon two weeks ago, Hall showed there was no Open hangover. Indeed, it was her mission to avoid resting on any Lytham laurels.
“I came away from the British and I was determined not to relax or anything like that,” she says.
“So, I was very happy with that performance in Portland and it was more important to me than people probably realised. People might wonder, ‘Why does she need validation like that?’ But, to me, I always try to test myself and almost go against myself by thinking, ‘Yeah, so what? Now do well in this event and then the next’.
“So it kind of backed up what I did at Lytham and I do feel confident going into the Evian, because I know I’ve got it in me now. If I’m in that similar position again I don’t think I’ll feel as nervous, which is nice to know. And yes, the course suits me. Course management is key. There are some tricky tee shots and you have to put the ball on the right part of the greens, because there are about 10 slopes on each of them. I learned a lot from last year and definitely feel I can win and make it back-to-back majors.”
The rankings back up Hall’s optimism. At No8 in the world, she is the first female from her country to reach the top 10 since the standings were introduced 12 years ago.
“I am proud of that, but it’s funny, I’m not sure if I feel like a top-10 player yet. It’s slowly sinking in, I guess,” she says.
“My goal at the start of the year was to get into the top 20, so to be up there now with the season not even over is special.
“It’s made me reset my goals for the rest of the year, like looking to create my history and things. You know I’m not miles from world No1 and I watched Justin [Rose] getting to No 1 last weekend. I couldn’t help thinking, what if England had the world No 1 in both the men’s and women’s game. How incredible would that be?”
Incredible, no doubt, and do not dismiss it as fantasyland. If Hall can replicate her putting performance from the Lancashire links, then she could easily prevail on the shores of Lake Geneva on Sunday, and then she would be tantalisingly close to top spot.
Certainly, the putter stayed hot in Portland. “I think I had five birdies in a row at one stage and when I holed another 40-footer, Harry [Tyrrell, her boyfriend and caddie] turned to me and said, ‘What are you doing? You’re scaring me now’,” Hall says with a laugh.
“My dad [Wayne] was on the bag at Lytham so Harry hadn’t seen me putt like that at the British Open, so it did spook him a bit.
“It’s very enjoyable when that happens and I think I’m at the stage where I can just enjoy it, let it happen and not think, ‘Oh, this has to end soon’.”
Harry will be at her side when she plays in today’s first round in the company of world No 1 and No 2, Korea’s Park Sung-hyun and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn, with Wayne ducking out of the limelight.
“Dad’s just been back in Bournemouth, walking the dog, doing normal things,” Hall says. “He doesn’t like all the fuss and just wants me to get on with it. And I’m the same, really.”