Hull shows signs of emulating Rose
A Team GB player hitting the ball well and charged with the task of taking on the reigning Open champion. Yes, a familiar theme emerged yesterday when the women’s Olympic golf competition began, as Charley Hull opened with a 68 to trail the women’s British Open Champion ariya Jutanugarn from Thailand by three strokes.
after Justin Rose and his epic against the men’s Open winner Henrik Stenson, we’d all settle for a little history repeating itself over the next three days, wouldn’t we?
momentum is a wonderful thing in sport and no player is better suited to ride it than the effervescent Hull. The 20-year-old showed once more she is never better than when she has a team uniform on her back and is full of confidence for the task ahead.
‘I think that was about the worst I could have scored given how well I hit the ball,’ she said.
Hull is an intoxicating mix of the stylish and slapdash. She raised a few eyebrows by not pitching up here until monday but that is the instinctive way she plays.
On the first green, she had to apologise to her playing partner Lydia Ko, who had to wait to putt because Hull could not mark her ball. She did not have a marker in her pocket and her caddie had to run back to the bag to get one.
It is hard to imagine another player in a competition of this magnitude who would be so carefree. Would Hull benefit from a little more attention to detail?
maybe, but let us not forget she is still very young and, in any case, there is an awful lot to like about the free-spirited manner in which she goes about her business.
Her golf is certainly a lot more easy on the eye than world No 1 Ko, whose ultra-methodical approach is off-putting.
There is far too much of it in the women’s game as a whole, causing rounds to take over five hours 30 minutes, which is unacceptable. Someone should remind these players the first word of the Olympic motto is ‘faster.’
Hull is about 30 yards longer off the tee than Ko and there are half-a-dozen holes here where she can take advantage, including the four par fives. She duly birdied three of them and should have birdied the other as well, missing from 5ft at the last.
The one she will remember was at the first where she got down in a chip and putt from just off the green. ‘How cool to birdie your first hole in Olympic competition,’ she cooed.
Ko recovered well from a slow start that saw her play the first four holes in two over to post a 69.
Team GB’s other representative Catriona matthew had the advantage of being out early before the wind got up, but could not capitalise. The Scot confessed to being disappointed after a level par 71. ‘I left an awful lot of opportunities out there,’ she said.
Representing Ireland in the first group out was Leona maguire, who plays off plus five and is the world’s number one amateur.
Her caddie was identical twin sister Lisa, who plays off plus three. There is a healthy rivalry between the two normally and there was even a bit of it on show here after Leona signed for a 74.
‘I think I’d have beaten her today,’ said an apparently none-too-impressed Lisa.