Charley Hull has been making headlines on the LPGA Tour all year long.
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Two-time LPGA champion Charley Hull has become something of a cult hero in 2024, thanks largely to her habit of smoking cigarettes at tournaments. She says she’s quit vaping (and she was banned from the Olympics). This week, Hull also showed she’s not afraid to voice strong opinions about golf, even if it means treading controversial ground.
Speaking of the Olympics, Hull represented England at the Paris Games, but a strange injury sustained in a fall while exiting the shower last month was still affecting her game and contributed to her shooting 81 in the first round of the Golf National.
How a cigarette made Charley Hull a cult hero at the US Women’s Open
Zephyr Melton
However, she recovered well to finish the tournament in 27th place. She continued her solid play over the last three rounds at this week’s ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, where she goes into the third round two shots behind the leader.
After the Olympics, Hull traveled to Scotland ahead of this week’s tournament to get some practice in and prepare for next week’s AIG Women’s British Open. The training venue? Trump Turnberry’s Ailsa Course, a former famous venue for the Open Championship.
The Ailsa Course has hosted four Opens, including the famous ‘Duel in the Sun’ between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus in 1977 and the most recent in 2009, which Watson nearly won at the age of 59. The course also hosted the Women’s British Open in 2002.
But why is it a former Open venue? Donald Trump bought the Turnberry hotel and golf courses in 2014 and quickly renamed them “Trump Turnberry.”
But after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, the R&A announced that Turnberry would no longer be part of the Open Championship rotation as long as she maintained her ties to the Trump Organization.
Fast forward to this week: The R&A ban on Trump Turnberry came up at Hull’s pre-tournament press conference at the Scottish Open.
Hull addressed the sensitive issue head-on, describing Turnberry’s absence from the Open squad as a “disgrace”.
“I thought (Trump Turnberry) was a great golf course. A lot of fun,” Hull said of her experience on the famous links. “I love being on the golf course and the views on this golf course are amazing. It was so much fun. I played there on Monday.”
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When asked directly whether it should return to the open rotation, she answered directly.
“Absolutely,” Hull replied, “I think it’s a shame. It’s a really first-class track.”
And when a reporter subsequently asked Hull if Turnberry should host the Women’s British Open again, she had a similar answer: “One hundred percent.”
“Honestly, it’s one of the best golf courses in the world,” Hull continued. “It would be a shame not to be there.”
R&A: Trump Turnberry will not host the Open Championship in the ‘foreseeable future’
Zephyr Melton
But despite expressing her fondness for Trump Turnberry and admitting that the tournament she most wants to win is the Women’s British Open, Hull revealed that she is actually not such a big links golf fan. Her favourite is the American parkland style of golf.
“I didn’t play much links golf growing up. I did the British Amateurs and stuff, but other than that I just love parkland.”
The Women’s Scottish Open concludes this Sunday, and then Hull and the rest of the LPGA’s best players will head to the greatest links course of all, the Old Course at St. Andrews, for the Women’s British Open.
