Hull discovers links form ahead of shot at Carnoustie glory
Henglishwoman confident for Open as 69 earns top-five finish ho’toole ends decade of hurt with three-shot triumph
Charley Hull’s fourth 69 of the week may not have been good enough to win her the Women’s Scottish Open, but fifth place was not a result to be sniffed at for the 25-year-old Englishwoman.
She had no choice but to sniff at it, though, and more than once, as she picked up a cold last week in Spain, yet a first top-five finish on a links course still represents a significant breakthrough ahead of this week’s Women’s Open at Carnoustie.
Ryann O’toole, of the United States, ultimately proved too good in the final round, her flawless 64 clinching a 17-under total and a three-shot victory, but Hull was in chipper mood despite finishing five strokes in arrears.
“It felt pretty good,” she said. “Ryann was just too hard to beat. She didn’t miss a putt, yet it was a little bit of a cat-andmouse game. There’s a lot of confidence going into next week because I haven’t played well at the Scottish Open before.”
Her previous best was tied eighth in 2015 and she is still seeking a first top-10 finish in this week’s championship, the only major which takes place on her home soil.
“I played really aggressive and that’s been the mindset of the week,” Hull added. “It gives me good momentum heading into Carnoustie. I’m super excited to take the positives up there.”
She is also riding the wave of a newfound policy of preparation. “I’ve played 10 weeks out of the last 12,” she explained on Thursday. “That’s a lot of golf so I’m turning up late. Didn’t get here till Tuesday night and I quite like that attitude.” No sooner had she signed her card than she was plotting a return journey to her home in Kettering before teeing it up again on Thursday. “Might as well,” she said, in straightforward fashion, of the 850-mile round-trip.
The difference between Hull’s near-miss and the win was her inability to change gear in the final round when the wind dropped and consequently so, too, did the birdie and eagle putts. New Zealand’s Lydia Ko thrashed a course recordequalling 63 to share second with the Thai teenager Atthaya Thitikul, while the long-time leader Ariya Jutanugarn collected fourth place with a 68. American Ally Ewing joined Ko in carding a 63 to finish alone in sixth.
None of them, however, could live with O’toole, who defied 10 years of disappointment to produce the best golf of her career. She had been surprisingly called up to the 2011 Solheim Cup off the back of just one top-five finish on the LPGA Tour and yet justified captain Rosie Jones’s faith with an unbeaten record in her nation’s defeat in Ireland.
Yet she has landed only another two top-fives in the decade since and this was her first experience of playing in the final group. Apparently oblivious to the stress, she drained three birdies in her first four holes and never looked back.
“I can’t even begin to describe this,” she said. “I’ve worked my entire life for it and I wondered if it would ever happen. I’m still in shock. The heartache that I’ve been through, I just really hope I don’t ever go through it again. I was nervous last night and I tried not to look at the leaderboard all day. At the 18th, I didn’t even really know what I was scoring.”
Further down the leaderboard
there was joy for Scotland’s Kelsey Macdonald whose two-under 70 confirmed a top-20 finish that would have meant little to many but the world for the popular 30-yearold. She lives in Nairn and her journey home will now involve a wonderful interruption because she grabbed one of the spots available for this week’s championship to the five players not already exempt.
“I’ve always been caught short by just one shot or a couple of places on the Order of Merit every single time trying to get into the Open,” she said. “So I’m very, very happy.”