PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – You and I will never know what it feels like to compete in a US Open; to view a leaderboard to view OUR last name with a “1” next to it. A single leader.
Charley Hull knows how it feels, of course, but Charley is Charley. You never know what she will think, what she will say, what she will do. She is fantastically unpredictable. So, just off the 11th green, just after grabbing the lead for the first time all week, why wouldn’t she stop, mid-round, to sign a few autographs? And moments later, when she saw her name at the top of the leaderboard, why did eight under feel like enough on a windy day at the US Open? Charley is Charley. She wanted to make it to 10.
There isn’t really it matters that 10 below wasn’t on the cards, for Hull or anyone else. Or that the score she had at the time would have been enough for a playoff. That’s not how she plays golf.
“If you always aim super, super high and you just don’t get it, you’re still going to do really well, if you know what I mean,” Hull reasoned out loud on Sunday night, perhaps three hours after signing those flags while holding the sole lead.
“Like great expectations,” she continued. “If I had thought, ‘Oh, seven (under) is going to win, I’d probably finish five (under). Do you know what I’m trying to say?’
Oh, we get it. The logic there says a lot about Hull – how she plays the sport and how she lives her life. But that’s all a major reason why we’re tuning in to it. She is, as the children say, gas, no brakes. Rope-hooks and pulls. She gets a bounce in her step when the shots come in. In a tournament where a fist pump can be hard to come by, Hull’s courage is not only welcome – it’s much needed. Her mentality on Saturday was in two words: “Fk it” – targeting every flag with reckless aggression. And on Sunday?
“Today was ‘Fk it,’ pretty much,” she said. “Just go do it, you know what I mean?”
In that Midlands English accent, she rips through those five words.Do you know what time?
Hull admitted that the opening rounds of a tournament make it feel closed, when the course is packed in threes and you have to be patient. But it explodes on the weekend, when there is room to run and leaders to follow.
“I love playing golf like this,” she said.
And Charley, we love watching him.
At 30, Hull’s stature in the game outstrips her victories. Her record is modest—three LPGA Tour wins, five in Europe, zero majors—but her manner is captivating. You have to watch. When she hits a little shoot she likes, she barely looks at it. It is a race where no one can snap the top of it as soon as possible. She struggles to find motivation in off-weeks – when the stakes aren’t as high – an admission she’ll no doubt bounce back from until she wins one. But that’s Charley’s handling of the fight. She tells you everything. Like three years ago, when she finished second at Pebble Beach and, instead of ‘Fk it’, there was an even better north star: Shy girls don’t get candy.
If anything, Hull is an epic counterbalance to it the person who caught him on Sunday. When Nelly Korda says ‘Fk’ it’s only in a hushed voice after a bad trip. Hull says it cheerfully into a microphone. Korda is careful about how much golf he plays. Hull left the Riviera for a three-day golf trip with her boyfriend. Korda was raised by two professional athletes and attended the IMG Academy, where pro careers are developed. Hull left school at 13 and turned professional at 16. Korda’s father, Petri, is very present, often standing nervously in the crowd. Hull’s family doesn’t travel the world with him. Instead, it was only her cousin, Jodie, as her relative in the country this week, and she begged Charlie to take her to Malibu. This being her first trip to Los Angeles, Jodie wanted to see if Malibu was what Hollywood portrayed it to be – beach walks and all. The Charley way retold the story created headlinesbecause of course it did.
On a Saturday night, their quest required braving Sunset Boulevard traffic to eat B-level Mexican food at a hilltop restaurant with an A-plus view of the city. It was totally worth the trip, Jodie said. But about 24 hours later, the good vibes changed. After Charley signed up for a seven-week under, they watched the final sets finish on a TV in the back room of the club, listening to the faint hum of Korda’s winning goal before it flashed on the screen.
“It’s just,” Cousin Jodie began, “you feel sick.”
That’s five second place finishes for Hull in majors, zero firsts. Charley called it frustrating and annoying, but has no plans to change her deceptive approach. If anything, she said she might include ‘F it’ mode even earlier next time. Her next chance to do it, and our next chance to enjoy it, is only three weeks away.
