BELLEAIRE, Fla. – Charley Hull is a whopping 38 under in her last seven rounds of competitive golf worldwide. The always-entertaining Englishwoman, fresh off a victory on the Ladies European Tour, currently leads The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican by two strokes over World No. 1 Nelly Korda.
The pair, of course, squared off against each other in singles last September at the Solheim Cup, where Hull dusted the American, 6 and 4.
“Yeah, I like playing with Nelly,” said Hull after her round. “She makes loads of birdies, so good fun to watch. Yeah, it’s really cool. I’m going to ask her about her swimsuit thing because she’s looked really nice in it. I think it was pretty cool.”
The “swimsuit thing” is the 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which featured Korda for the first time. Korda admitted to being shy at first on the set of the shoot.
“By the end of day, I was having so much fun with them,” she said of the crew.
Nelly Korda looks on during the second round of the 2024 Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican
in Belleair, Florida. (Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
A two-time winner of The Annika, Korda said she may have rushed her rehab a bit after a neck injury to return to Pelican this year. Back-to-back 66s have her at 8 under. She’s quite comfortable playing close to home.
“Even with it being windy, tough conditions,” said Korda, “I just kind of know the holes where you kind of have to be safe and the holes where you can be a little bit more aggressive on.”
Hull made a bet with her boyfriend before the start of Thursday’s round that for every five birdies made they’d stay an extra day on their European vacation. She made seven birdies in the first round and five more on Friday.
“A lot more trickier than yesterday,” said Hull of Friday’s conditions, “so you got to have a good ball-striking day and I’m a good ball-striker, so played more into my hands.”
Alexa Pano chipped it in the water on the 18th to make double but still managed a second-round 64 to hold a share of third with rookie Jin Hee Im, Mi Hyang Lee and Wichanee Meechai at 7 under.
“There is no good miss out there,” said Pano of the closing hole. “Left, long, right, nothing is good. Definitely water is short. That I found out.
“You got to play smart on that hole, and hopefully I’ll figure it out a little bit better over the weekend.”
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