Why Charley Hull Asked Paula Creamer For An Autograph At The Solheim Cup

As if getting thrashed in the singles wasn't bad enough Paula Creamer was then asked to sign a golf ball by her opponent Charley Hull

Charley Hull and Paula Creamer
Charley Hull and Paula Creamer
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The 2013 Solheim Cup was memorable for many reasons as Europe won for the first time on American soil. Lotta Neumann's side led from the opening foursomes on day one and went into the singles with a five-point advantage at Colorado GC.

Then, in the second singles match out, Charley Hull took on Paula Creamer. The English star was making history as the youngest player in Solheim Cup history at 17 years and 149 days and she barely missed a beat as she thumped Creamer by 5&4.

After the usual exchange of hugs Hull quite likely made more Solheim history when she asked Creamer to sign a golf ball for a friend at home. To her credit, the 26-year-old American obliged.

"I thought I might as well get one. I'm going to give it to my friend, James, because he's a big fan. We both played great, we both missed a few short putts, but, no, it was really good and I really enjoyed it. I wasn't really thinking what she was doing too much and I just played my own game," explained the then teenager.

"That last hole is great, where she hit it in the bunker, and then I hit it to like three feet, and then she holed the bunker shot. That was just a real good memory that I'll always have."

Hull would end her debut with two wins from three matches, she had also beaten Creamer in the Saturday fourballs but the American was only too happy to oblige with the autograph.

"I can honestly say no (to previously signing an autograph for a fellow player). I was 18 when I played in my first one, and would I have liked to get some autographs my first Solheim Cup? Yeah. I would have and I didn't. I know Laura Davies would have been nice on Sunday," added Creamer.

"And that's cool. Charley's going to be around for a long time, and it's pretty neat to see kind of the future of their team, as well, grow. She was a good player and she represented her country very well."

Mark Townsend
Contributing editor

Mark has worked in golf for over 20 years having started off his journalistic life at the Press Association and BBC Sport before moving to Sky Sports where he became their golf editor on skysports.com. He then worked at National Club Golfer and Lady Golfer where he was the deputy editor and he has interviewed many of the leading names in the game, both male and female, ghosted columns for the likes of Robert Rock, Charley Hull and Dame Laura Davies, as well as playing the vast majority of our Top 100 GB&I courses. He loves links golf with a particular love of Royal Dornoch and Kingsbarns. He is now a freelance, also working for the PGA and Robert Rock. Loves tour golf, both men and women and he remains the long-standing owner of an horrific short game. He plays at Moortown with a handicap of 6.