The most famous quote from Roman military commander Pliny the Elder is “Fortune favors the bold.” That saying doesn’t get used much in golf, and for good reason. Bold styles might be fun to watch, but they also lead to some catastrophic disasters.
It might not be as exciting, but players who find the center of 18 greens and roll in a few birdies usually fare better than the ones pulling driver on every tee and firing approaches at every flag. That’s a lesson Rory McIlroy learned as he matured, and one Sergio Garcia did not, costing the Spaniard more titles than most of us can count.
But there are exceptions, those few weeks on those special courses where fortune does, indeed, favor a bold, aggressive style. Old American Golf Club in suburban Dallas is one of those courses, and a near-windless week in northeast Texas was the time. Because of that confluence of conditions, Charley Hull – a player whose one gear is wide open – won the Ascendant LPGA Championship benefiting Volunteers of America by shooting 64 on Sunday. It was Hull’s second career LPGA Tour victory, the first coming way back in 2016 at the CME Group Tour Championship. This past week, she finished 18-under par in Texas, good enough for a one-shot victory over Xiyu “Janet” Lin and two shots clear of Lydia Ko.
“My game was there. It was just my confidence. I'm now confident. I feel very proud of myself.”
Charley Hull
Hull played Old American the way she plays Woburn when she’s home taking a few quid off the best-playing men in England: She fired at every hole location. It cost her a few times – five bogeys and one double bogey for the week – but the benefits far outweighed the costs. Sunday was Hull’s second 64 of the week and included a stretch of three birdies in a row on the back nine.
Playing with Lin in the final group, Hull found herself in a three-way tie for the lead at 14-under par after a bogey on the par-4 eighth. But birdies on 12, 13, and 14 gave her a two-shot lead. Another birdie at the par-5 17th was much needed as Lin made only the second eagle of the day there.
Both had birdie putts on the final hole but failed to convert. It was Lin’s third runner-up finish of the year.
But the week belonged to the 26-year-old Englishwoman.
“My game was there. It was just my confidence,” Hull said of her nearly six-year absence from the winner’s circle. “I'm now confident. I feel very proud of myself.”
Steve Eubanks