Ah, Dundonald Links. Where the wind whips harder than my questionable fashion choices on 'casual Friday.' This year's ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open is proving to be less of a stroll in the park and more of a wrestling match with a particularly grumpy badger. While Jenny Shin and Lauren Coughlin were channeling their inner zen masters to card impressive 66s, the golf gods decided to play a rather cruel joke on Charley Hull and Georgia Hall.
Charley Hull, bless her competitive heart, found herself in a bit of a pickle on the par-five fifth hole. She's world No. 7, for crying out loud, not some weekend warrior fumbling for their tees. Yet, she managed a spectacular nine. Imagine: a 15-foot birdie putt, a gentle tap, and suddenly the ball decides to audition for a downhill skiing documentary, trundling off the green and stopping just in time to mock her. Her subsequent attempts to coax it back onto the putting surface resulted in a highly repetitive, yet entirely unsuccessful, four-shot performance piece.
It was a masterclass in futility, a ballet of blunders that left Hull scratching her head faster than I do when trying to decipher modern art. After what felt like an eternity, the ball finally agreed to be putted, leading to a quadruple-bogey that would make an accountant weep. She eventually signed for a 78, which, considering the fifth hole, feels like a personal victory.
Meanwhile, Georgia Hall, making a triumphant return to the LPGA Tour after a brief, albeit biologically significant, hiatus as a new mother, decided to join the 'let's build a monument to the number 10' club on the 14th. After a fairway bunker adventure, a recalcitrant ball, and a lost stroke due to some strong Scottish zephyrs, Hall found herself taking ten strokes. She described it with a philosophical smile, which I suspect was her polite way of saying, 'send help and possibly a sedative.'
This certainly wasn't the 'nice welcome back' Hall might have envisioned. While triple major winner Minjee Lee also wobbled with an 85, Hall's 10 was the sort of score that makes you reconsider your career choices, perhaps taking up professional knitting. But Hall remains undeterred, eyeing next week's AIG Women's Open, her place of past triumph. She's ready to turn the page, hopefully without writing another double-digit saga.
Lottie Woad, the defending champion, had a front-row seat to Hull's short-lived golf exhibition and managed a two-over 74. Her approach to the same challenging hole demonstrated a newfound caution: 'after seeing Charley’s one, I was just trying to lag it up.' A wise strategy when your playing partner has seemingly invented a new form of golf suffering.