Hull weathers early test as wind and rain set to come into play

Friday 14 September 2012

Par was a stiff target for the world's best women golfers at yesterday's Ricoh Women's British Open, but England's 16-year-old amateur Charley Hull showed how it could be done with a fine one under 71.

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Elspeth Burnside

Despite the relatively kind conditions – breezy, but dry and almost warm – the two under-par scores of 70 posted by South Koreans Haeji Kang and So Yeon Ryu were the highest for the first round leaders since the Championship became a major 11 years ago.

Today, the forecast is for rain and 40mph winds. Hull is a precocious young lady. She has already stood up to the professionals in four outings this season. On the Ladies' European Tour, she had a top- five finish at the Turkish Open and was joint 18th at both the Irish Open and British Masters.This is her second major. At her first, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, she also opened with a 71 and went on to tie for 38th at Palm Springs in California in March. "It's been a good year," said Hull, who helped Great Britain and Ireland win the Curtis Cup at Nairn in June. "I don't get too nervous playing in these sort of tournaments. I just pretend I'm out there with my mates."She might have had to phone a friend to carry her bag around Hoylake. Her caddie – whom she only knows as Mark – had his motorbike stolen overnight from outside his Liverpool hotel.He had to call a taxi and the £30 mad dash got him to the course with just minutes to spare for the 7.40am tee time. Sensibly, Hull's father, Dave, instructed him to keep the drama to himself until after the round. There were not too many problems for the pair during 18 holes. She birdied the second and fifth from inside ten feet and her only bogey came at the eighth when she hit her second through the green. Home schooled, she has already decided to enter this year's Ladies' European Tour qualifying school. "If I'm successful, then I'll turn professional," she said. Before then, she has the World Amateur Team Championship in Turkey and a few school exams to complete. "I couldn't sit them at normal time due to the Curtis Cup, but I've been getting 92 and 95% for my assignments so I'm doing OK," she said. Lydia Ko is a year younger at 15 but has even more impressive credentials. The US Women's Open Amateur Champion – she beat the professionals to become the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour at the Canadian Open last month – was born in South Korea. The family moved to New Zealand when she was very young and she is now ranked the No.1 amateur in the world. The two Scots in the field – Catriona Matthew and Carly Booth – will also be hoping for a few more sub-par holes today. Unfortunately, they both failed to make much of an impression.Starting at the par-5 10th, Matthew, the 2009 champion, opened with a birdie at 7.10 in the morning. But bogeys at the 17th and 18th and a double-bogey seven after a lost ball in a bush at the fifth really spoiled the day.Booth, a two-time winner on the LET this season, heads the European Order of Merit, but she will do well to make the cut in her first major after an opening 77.Yani Tseng, the winner on 16-under at Carnoustie last year, stayed in the hunt with a 72. It's a score that keeps her firmly on course for a record-breaking third win in a row.

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Hull weathers early test as wind and rain set to come into play

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