Charley Hull at the Kroger Queen City Championship earlier this week.
getty photos
After the US Women's Open in early June, Charley Hull, who was coming off two top-20 finishes at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club and a tough time that included a half-smoked cigar, was a guest at Dan's. ESPN's popular Le Batard Radio show.
A few minutes after Hull called in for an interview, Le Batard's host, Jon Weiner, who goes by the nickname “Stugotz,” said to Hull, “I want to ask you an important question.” How many cigarettes in each round—”
Here, Le Batard jumped in, saying, “Stop smoking! I promised him at the beginning that we will not bother him with cigarettes.”
But Stugotz, who was also a smoker, continued.
“—because, Dan, it leads to something. I want to stop. He wants to stop. I want to stop with him. I think we will make a deal here.”
Hull told Stugotz he smokes five cigarettes per round, but the exchange revealed more than just the extent of his habit – namely that the 28-year-old Brit and his team clearly want Hull to be known for more than cigarettes. His addiction is just nicotine, and understandably so.
This, of course, is the problem with virality: When the Internet makes a mark (and we should note here that Hull's viral moment came from a public post on GOLF.com), for better or worse the association can be hard to shake. Take the Solheim Cup last week. When a reporter posted a video of Hull approaching the finish line and borrowing a fan's flashlight, Golf Twitter said: Barstool Sports also got in on the action, publishing an article that called Hull the “People's Golfer” and described his lighting during the round as “the best thing you've ever seen.” Arrow, aviator shades, Hull beauty: it all just seems to work together. Even at the Paris Olympics, where smoking was banned, Hull's habit became an issue. The question on the minds of journalists: How not finding his adjustment had an effect on Hull's performance?
But if that's a bad thing, here's a good thing: the curiosity about Hull's smoking has undoubtedly helped raise his profile (662,000 Instagram followers and counting) and marketing during a season when his game was in form. Even though Hull hasn't won yet this year, he's been on the kind of run that suggests the W is close: four top-25 finishes at five majors, three more top-10 finishes and a three-week European Solheim Cup win that includes six finishes and 4 of world No. 1 Nelly Korda. “I can't believe he's not here yet.” [a major champion],” four major title winner Laura Davies cried after Hull's singles performance. “He's very talented.”
Hull belongs to many other things, too, many of which have bolstered Q's rating. For one thing, he's an open book, probably more open than his IMG brains would like. On Le Batard's show, she admitted that she had broken up with her boyfriend a week before the US Open. In a The Telegraph in an interview earlier this year, she revealed that she has lips. “I've had half a mil on my lips, but so have many girls my age,” he said.
Years ago, when he was selected as captain to play in his first Solheim Cup – he was only 17 at the time – he said he remembers feeling “disappointed” because “he had a birthday party I was going to that weekend.” At that Solheim Cup, however, Hull quickly became a media favorite. Asked by his colleague Suzann Pettersen, who was sitting next to Hull at the team's press conference, Hull said: “He's not that old, to be honest. I meant that in a nice way.”
That is Hull, and always has been. Growing up in Northamptonshire, England, Hull dropped out of school at the age of 12; her parents, Dave, a plasterer, and mother, Basienka, a former professional tennis player, chose to educate their daughter at home, although it is not clear how much schooling actually took place. “I didn't do homework when I finished school, I just played golf,” said Charley Golf Monthly in 2020, referring to the many hours he logged at Kettering Golf Club. “Usually people were at school from 9 am to 3 pm; I was playing golf from 9 am to 3 pm every day. I was playing with the boys down at the golf club because sometimes they would skip school to play with me and we only had a few games. A few of them were much older than me.”
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His first coach wasn't big on the arts, instead he encouraged Charley to smash the ball with all his might. By the time he was 11, he was playing scratch. Her first win at the English Girls Under-13 Championship, was followed by several titles in the US against America's top juniors. After winning the Welsh and English Amateurs in 2011, Hull turned pro at the age of 16. A year later, he made the Solheim Cup team, the first of what has already been seven at Solheim where he has collected 16.5 points. Only seven players in history – on either side – have scored more points.
If Hull gives off John Daly vibes, it's not just because of his penchant for cigars and a penchant for calling things their own. Like Daly, Hull also signs up to play fast and grab and rip his way through the course. Perhaps no moment personified this approach more than the shots they faced in the crucial moments of the US Women's Open at Pebble Beach last year. Partially framed by a tree in the middle of the 18th fairway, Hull discussed his options with his friend, Adam Woodward, before finally deciding, as he put it in his charming home escape, “Shy kids don't get candy.” Translation: No risk, no reward. With the trunk in front of him and the branches above him, he blasted a painted wood that for a moment looked like it might be green. It didn't happen, curling into the basement, but the shot was symbolic of the way Hull plays the game and, with that, lives his life.
Another topic Hull is open about: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, which he was diagnosed with in 2023. Hull said the situation can make him impatient and “drained,” but that competitive golf is as elixir as it is demanding. focus. Daily visits to the gym, where he does strenuous exercise, are also beneficial. He also said that he drinks a lot of water. Cigarettes are another useful distraction. “Now I know what to do,” he said last year, “so I handle it better.”
After his good performance against Korda in Virginia, Hull was back at work, hopping on a plane to New York City to meet some sponsors and media and then on to Cincinnati for this week's LPGA event, the Kroger Queen City Championship. Solheim was a long and tiring week for Hull, as it was for all the players. Wake up calls at four in the morning. Riding the Shuttle. Press the creams. The continent on your shoulders. “Then there's the adrenaline that comes from the weekend,” Hull said earlier this week as he left Kroger. “Obviously I played all five games, I had a lot of adrenaline and now I feel like I'm in trouble because I'm so tired.” But not just tiredness. “It's completely messed up,” Hull said.
He hangs in there, though. Hull went three over on Friday, and at 4 under in the tournament she is seven behind Lydia Ko. This may not be the week he gets his first LPGA win since the fall of 2022, but then again, who knows?
With Hull, it's always hard to know what's coming next.
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