Charley Hull’s ‘F it’ attitude landed her in contention at the US Women’s Open
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Charley Hull plays golf as well as he possibly can. He is not looking at the pin sheet. He does not carry a yard book. And while her golf hasn’t been perfect in the first two days at the US Women’s Open, her thinking has probably been on what she tells herself on the golf course, too:
“Fuck that.”
The full quote has more context, so we’ll give it to you next, but the idea speaks to Charley Hull in full. You are an attacker. A runner. He likes Moving Day because it’s “so much fun” to pursue.
“I played well the first two days – tee to green,” he said on Saturday afternoon. “I just couldn’t get the putt, so I just hung in there and just went for it all today and just thought, fuck it.
This is where Hull’s golf differs from the average person, though, because fuck it for him it is not just playing with violence but doubling down on that violence. Follow every pin at Riviera Country Club and actually succeed in doing so.
He went over the green on 3, dropped his darts on 6 and 7, drove it to the edge of the green on 10, dropped his approach to four feet on 14, reached the par-5 17th in two and closed it out with another good putt on 18. Seven birdies, one bogey, a week of 65 – best score of the week. And nothing really close to what he felt going in.
“No I did not [feel good],” he said, “I didn’t at all. I’m glad I had my cousin out here because we’ve been doing things to take my mind off golf.”
Hull, like many professionals, is a golf enthusiast. She is returning to the UK after this weekend and will be going on a golf trip with her boyfriend. He would stay up at night — “terrified” was his way of describing it — watching videos of himself skating on his phone.
“I just read everything thinking I love this feeling, I love that feeling, why not? Sometimes you have to just erase all that and not think about anything.”
Or just think ‘F—k it.’
That’s the beauty of Hull. You are one of a kind. He does things his way. Sometimes it burns. Sometimes it’s as good as that 65th Saturday.
It’s been a year of ups and downs for Hull. He won in February and jumped to No. 3 in the world, but has struggled of late, missing multiple injuries in a month for the first time in three years. He arrived in LA not feeling well about his game and was spending time with his cousin, Jodie, to get away from it.
“He thought it was going to be this amazing place and he had this dream,” Hull said with his cousin standing nearby, on the verge of laughter. “He knows just like you Barbie movie, where you see people walking around in circles coming out of the sea? And we got down there and I said, ‘We’re in Malibu.’ You can say, ‘No we are not.’ I would say, ‘Yes, yes we are.’ He was like ‘My lifelong dream is being sprayed!’ You are frustrated. It was really fun.”
Hull loves to travel with family and seems to get as much family time as any professional. He will occasionally fly back home – to the Midlands of England, north of London – just to spend time with family between events. This week, side questions with his cousin keep him from stressing too much about golf and only get him a few shots and 18 holes to play. Saturday’s game earned him time for afternoon games with Sunday’s final round, which, frankly, made for a nice, unhurried evening. The destination is already decided: Mexican food, in a city with endless options.
