Hall desperate to regain form for Open defence – and stolen trophy

Defending Open champions invariably turn up at the venue saying they dread having to give back the trophy before the first round. Georgia Hall does not feel that way for one very good reason – the trophy has been stolen from her car.

Hall, the 23-year-old from Bournemouth, looked suitably embarrassed recounting why she turned up at the AIG Women’s British Open without the precious silverware. “I was visiting my agent in Chiswick and they smashed in my back window, like 12pm, middle of the day and just took it,” Hall said.

“I don’t know if they knew it was me or not because it was in a box. I had golf clubs as well, but they didn’t take them. I was a bit scared.

“I feel a little bit silly having it in the car. I hope the police can find it, but it’s probably been melted down and sold.”

Fortunately, the original trophy is kept in the R&A clubhouse in St Andrews and the winners are handed a replica to keep.

However, it clearly has huge sentimental value to Hall and the organisers are trying to secure the insurance to arrange a replacement. Meanwhile, what Hall would dearly love to find in the next 48 hours is her game.

Perhaps it was predictable that after winning a major at such an early age she would struggle to adapt to her new status. Hall has not recorded a single top-20 finish since January and in her frustration has recently sacked her coach, Dan Grieve, who is the head coach here at Woburn.

“Dan’s a great coach, but I’m a very simple person and a player, and things were getting too confusing,” Hall said. “I got too technical, which isn’t me at all. I just wanted to simplify everything, and it’s a lot better without having those voices in my head. My dad [Wayne] is the only one helping with my swing now.”

Wayne is also back on the bag, as he was last year. Hall has primarily been using her boyfriend, Harry Tyrrell since, but she felt obliged to reunite the winning Royal Lytham combination.

“I’m not sure if he still has those lucky socks which he wore in every round and I’m not sure I want to know,” Georgia said. “But he has been training these last few weeks to make sure he is ready.”