Charley Hull At 30: Underachiever Or On Track For Greatness?

On one hand it seems faintly ridiculous to think that today (20 March) Charley Hull is celebrating her 30th birthday; on the other, she seems to have been around forever.

Aged nine her name popped up when she won a Ladies’ Golf Union event at Turnberry when, playing off a handicap of 26, she beat a 46-year-old woman in a play-off. She achieved plenty in the amateur game and was part of a brilliant Curtis Cup team to prevail at Nairn and her first five starts on the Ladies European Tour produced five runners-up finishes.

The maiden win came the following year in Morocco and she’s now won nine times as a professional. The consensus is that that number should be higher but she ’s currently the World No. 3 and she’s played on seven Solheim Cup teams.

But still there’s the nagging feeling for some that she’s somehow underperformed. While the Majors might not quite be the yardstick that they are in the men’s game, the question of when it’s going to happen is repeated again and again and again.

Instead of celebrating her swing, strength, incredible short game, little quirks and even her longevity, we somehow also fixate over the lack of a Major trophy.

Only Dame Laura Davies, Alison Nicholas, Karen Stupples and Hull’s great mate, Georgia Hall, have managed it in the history of English women’s golf but the thinking is that should have happened by now.

There have been enough close shaves to suspect that it will be when rather than if – 10 career top 10s and three second places since 2023. There was the ‘Shy kids don’t get sweets’ moment at Pebble Beach when she took on Pebble Beach’s 18th green, three Majors later she threatened again at Walton Heath.

Her last Major start, at Royal Porthcawl, also promised much where she would come up just two shots shy of Miyu Yamashita. A few weeks earlier she had been forced to withdraw at The Evian.

“For all the talk of she's not won a Major, Charley’s proved to herself that she can do it and particularly on home soil when there is pressure. She went into the AIG Women’s Open last year having fainted at Evian, there were injury niggles and she came in a bit underprepared. Being on home soil where there's a bit of pressure is not easy but, what she did in Wales, was very, very impressive. Her game was a slow burner but it then built and built and it came good. I was really impressed with her at that week,” explains leading analyst Sophie Walker.

As for the underperforming, that’s not even on Walker’s radar. "It disappoints me when people say she's underachieved because she hasn't won a Major. She could have had three or four Majors, comfortably, without doing anything wrong but it hasn’t happened yet. She is the face of women's golf in Britain, if not the world. She is the person that you would pay money to go and watch. If you had to pick a fourball, who do you want to play with? It would begin with Charley.

“She gives it everything. She lives and breathes golf, as well as looking like quite a normal girl, which makes her relatable in that sense. You feel something when you watch her. I had a tear in my eye at the end in Wales. One, I was proud of her and two, I was gutted for her. She makes you feel it.”

In many ways we’ve rarely seen anyone quite like Charley in the game. She’s certainly not from the privileged route that some golfers have begun life on and she’s a hard one to work out when we listen to her interviews. The answers are pretty clipped and to the point, but we’ve also been following her progress for almost 15 years and she’s never once let herself down.

Her heroes are Seve Ballesteros and Davies and she plays the game similar to them, taking on flags and generally pulling some incredible shots off.

“The longevity of their careers and their Solheim and Ryder Cup records will be similar to Charley’s. But they’ve won Majors and I would assume there would be times in her life that the obsession of not winning one would get to her but she'll be absolutely alright if she doesn't win a Major because, in terms of family, friends and all that type of thing, she's not one to dwell on moments.

“As soon as she hadn't got it over the line in Wales she looked way more composed than the rest of us. So if she doesn't get a Major then she will think about it but it won't make her life.”

“Things turn around. We could be talking to her in two years' time and she might have three of them. Sometimes they come in clusters and, once you get one, you get two. This year’s US Women’s Open is at Riviera so that would be a great story, wouldn't it? The big Hollywood finish.”

Where we will likely see Hull write her name firmly in the record books is the Solheim Cup. This year in the Netherlands she will make her eighth appearance – on her debut back in 2013 she thrashed America’s poster girl Paula Creamer in the singles and then asked her to sign a ball for her friend – and she’s played a huge role in Europe winning three and halving one of those matches. In 2024 she thrashed Nelly Korda in the lead match out in the States.

She’s had 11 different partners in her 20 fourball and foursomes outings and there’s every chance she’ll sign off with more points than anyone who’s played in the competition.

As things stand Hull has 16.5 points – ahead of her only Anna Nordqvist, Meg Mallon, Juli Inkster, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Suzann Pettersen, Catriona Matthew, Annika Sorenstam and Davies on 25 points. A pretty cool list to be a part of and all household names.

For now it’s been a remarkable run of success and, if you had to guess, you would say that she’s not even hit her peak yet. Phil Mickelson was 33 when he won the first of his six Majors. It wouldn’t take a huge leap of faith to imagine Charley Hull at 40 having two or three Majors in the locker and being the all-time Solheim Cup points scorer – the next decade promises to be fascinating.