Hall hoping to get break from Mother Nature
FROM fleeing the flames of Wentworth’s wildfires to cowering under an unprecedented lightning storm battering Edinburgh.
Even by 2020’s extreme standards, this has been a crazy week in the life of Georgia Hall.
Yet, while the elements appear to be stalking her at the moment, her golf game mercifully remains an oasis of calm.
And at the ideal time, too, with today’s opening round of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open in East Lothian followed by the Women’s Open at Royal Troon next week.
For 24-year-old Hall — who won her first major title at the Women’s Open two years ago — it represents her favourite run in the golf calendar of any year, let alone one so brutally affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
So she was reassured to have hit the ground running on her return to competitive action, with two wins and three runner-up finishes in the recent Rose Series of events.
Even though they were brought to a halt in spectacularly unforeseen circumstances at Wentworth last Friday.
‘I have never seen anything like that before,’ said Hall (below) of the moment the grand finale event went up in smoke due to a forest fire spreading perilously close to the famous West Course.
‘I was halfway down the seventh hole and it was about 20 yards from the ninth green and tenth tee box.
‘It was massive. Wherever you looked, it was so orange and there was black ashes floating all around us, which was very strange.
‘There was a lot of smoke coming in and then obviously we had to evacuate.
‘Luckily, we didn’t have that long a walk in to the clubhouse but it was a shame that we couldn’t finish.’
With the course deemed still unsafe to return on Saturday, the decision was made to curtail the Grand Final event at 36 holes, allowing Hall’s fellow Englishwoman Charley Hull to pip her to the overall Order of Merit and a cheque for £20,000.
They will do battle again this week at The Renaissance Club where the course has held up well, despite the deluge that fell on Tuesday night amid another of Mother Nature’s tantrums. ‘The weather’s been kind of strange for me the past few days,’ smiled the world No 43. ‘I remember getting back to the hotel and it (the lightning and torrential rain) was nonstop. ‘You could see it through the curtain. ‘I didn’t know whether we were going to have some of that this morning because I was out very early for my practice round, but luckily we didn’t really — there was a bit of thunder but it was quite a distance away.
‘I’m hoping we get some kind of normality throughout the rest of the week for the tournament.’
While her rival Hull benefited financially from the abrupt end at Wentworth, leapfrogging Hall into top spot, she felt even more fortunate to have got away having been closer to the danger zone at the time of the fire.
‘It was crazy,’ said Hull. ‘I was in the middle of the eighth fairway and it was behind the ninth green.
‘I remember seeing the whole of this 30-foot tree burning and within seconds about 30 yards of land just went up in flames. It was pretty scary, everyone was shocked.
‘It’s a shame about how it ended but the Rose Series was a good warm-up for me coming into these two weeks.
‘It’s really good to get a scorecard in your hand, it’s totally different to just playing practice rounds.
‘Without that, it would have been a shock to go straight back into this, especially after six months off, so I was grateful for that.’
The $1.5million event has attracted a strong field to the East Lothian venue, including three of the world’s top ten.
Among them is Danielle Kang, the in-form American striving for a hat-trick after landing back-toback wins in the LPGA Drive On Championship and Marathon LPGA Classic in Ohio within the last fortnight.
The world No 2 is joined by fifthranked Nasa Hataoka from Japan and eighth-ranked Australian Minjee Lee.
Reigning AIG Women’s Open champion Hinako Shibuno is also in the field seeking vital links golf practice as she tunes up for next week’s defence of her major title at Troon.
Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew leads the home challenge, literally, as The Renaissance is situated just two miles from her house in North Berwick.
Other Scots include Gemma Dryburgh — who won back-toback titles on the recent Rose Series mini tour — Carly Booth, Michele Thomson, Kelsey MacDonald, Kylie Henry and Alison Muirhead.