Charley Hull walks the fairway during the second round of the US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club on May 31, 2024, in Lancaster, Pa.
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The last 12 months had it all – crazy winning streaks, big new champions, a major weekly arrest (!) and more. With 2025 on the horizon, our writers are looking at the most memorable moments from 2024.
Golf’s Greatest Moments of 2024 No. 15: Charley Hull goes viral
Oddly enough, it started with a cigarette. Charley Hull took it from there.
As Nelly Korda staked her claim in the world of women’s golf – winning seven times in 16 starts, including five in a row – it was Hull, the 28-year-old English pro, who rivaled Korda’s popularity at the end of 2024.
In June, GOLF’s Seen and Heard video series captured Hull smoking a cigarette while signing autographs at the US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club. The video went viral, and so did Hull. She gained more than 70,000 followers on Instagram in two days.
“It’s actually quite funny,” Hull said that week. “I don’t know, I think over a cigarette. But really I was walking towards the training ground, I had my hands full, someone asked me for an autograph, I won’t say no because I always like to sign autographs. I had a cigarette in my mouth, signed it, and then it went viral. I don’t know. It’s just one of those things. But it’s been crazy. Like the fans have been screaming my name this week. Someone said I dropped something and then gave me the phone number on a piece of paper in my hand. He said: ‘Here is my number. Text me so we can figure out where to take you for dinner tonight.’ I never texted him back, but it was so funny.
“It’s been a bit of a wild week.”
But its popularity lasted long before Lancaster. The more Hull spoke to the media – fresh, unfiltered (no pun intended) and with a smart English wit – the more observers continued to be intrigued. She won fans on the course, borrowed lighters and even made requests to autograph cigarettes.
More importantly, her game also got the attention it deserved.
Hull tied for 19th at the US Women’s Open, added another top 20 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and finished 5th at the Scottish Open. She was top 20 in her final six events of the year, which included a victory in the Aramco Team Series Riyadh event to snap a two-year winless drought.
Hull’s biggest week came in September when she secured a top 3 points for Europe at the Solheim Cup and dominated Korda, the world’s top player, in the Sunday singles. USA traveled to one Victory 15.5-12.5but Hull’s 6-and-4 win over Korda in the first game of the day sparked stories focusing on the potential for the next great rivalry of the women’s game.
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The Korda-Hall dynamic reignited last month at The Annika, when Hull held a 54-hole lead and was in the bottom three with Korda and Weiwei Zhang.
There were strings (Hull equalized for the second), but perhaps it was a forerunner of things to come. Korda is firmly established as the player no. 1 in the world, but Hull are now 10th. She has yet to win just twice on the LPGA Tour — her last win came in 2022 — and she has had five top 10s in each of the past three years. She’s always been a long hitter, but her putting (4th) and greens in regulation (8th) made huge strides in 2024.
Any sport is better with a rivalry, even if it’s a friendly one like Korda and Hull. Will there be more in 2025? Will Hull’s results continue with its newfound popularity?
“If you think I have a lot of personality on the golf course, you should see what my home life is like,” Hull said. “But yes, it’s very funny. I’m just me. You don’t know what’s coming out of my mouth next. I don’t know what comes out of my mouth next. It’s one of those things. I’m just me. I wouldn’t change for the world. I’m just going to be me, and people are either going to like it or sum it up.”
