Even at the age of just 28 Charley Hull has already carved out a phenomenal career. She has been a pro since 2013, which seems a ridiculous thing to write, and she has appeared on the last seven Solheim Cup teams. There have been seven wins – four in Europe, two on the LPGA Tour and one on the Rose Ladies Series – but, given her undoubted talent, the quest to become a Major champion remains a winless one.
Of the 55 Majors that she’s played in she’s finished inside the top 25 in well over half of them, three of them runners-up places, but she remains in the top three best players who are yet to win a Major.
Here former LET player and now leading analyst Sophie Walker looks at how she might turn that around in 2025.
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Charley joined the LPGA Tour in 2015 so this will be her 10th season and she is fast approaching $9m in earnings. She’s been phenomenally consistent in that period, there have been 38 top 10s, but she has only won twice, which doesn’t seem enough for a player of her ability.
In 2024 I would put that down to her first-round scoring average. At one point it was over par and it ended up at 71.6. Her second round is 69.4, third round 70.1 and final round 70.9. Jeeno Thitikul is 69.9 and Nelly Korda’s is 70.1 for their opening rounds so she’s giving up a shot and a half straightaway. So that would be something that Charley needs to tidy up for next year.
Likewise she is just outside the top 100 for short game but her ball striking (4th) and Greens In Regulation (8th) are outstanding so we are talking about a player who is in the top 10 in the world and these are all fine margins.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The Need To Win More
I think it was important that she won on the LET towards the end of the 2024 in the Aramco Team Series in Riyadh. I was out walking with her and she really stamped her authority on that tournament. She won by three strokes but it should have been more, on the closing holes you could see that it had been a while – her previous win had come two years before on the LPGA Tour – I don’t think it was nerves, more the excitement of finally getting over the line. I know she talks about playing great golf but you do want something to hold at the end, trophy-wise. And in November she got that tangible reward.
Charley…
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