THE COLONY, TEX | Through 36 holes at Old American Golf Club, Charley Hull is -11 and has secured a spot at the top of the leaderboard. But when she walked off the course after the second round of The Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America Thursday, she had no idea where she stood.
“I actually can’t really remember much of my round because I was so focused,” Hull said. “I didn’t know what my score was when I was coming in.”
Hull shot a whopping 7-under, 64, the best round of the tournament so far, with eight birdies and just one bogey to card her fifth straight round in the 60s. Last week at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, Hull shot -13 and tied for fifth – her first top-10 result since she finished in a tie for third at the Amundi Evian Championship in July.
Prior to her trip to Rogers, Arkansas, Hull took a two week break from the tour after missing the cut at the CP Women’s Open and the Dana Open presented by Marathon. But Hull didn’t take a break from golf; in fact, she spent most of her time on the range with friends and family.
“I played about four or five rounds of 36 holes when I was home,” Hull said of her short vacation from the LPGA. “I'm just one of those people. I actually prefer playing golf at home with my mates than I do on Tour. I love playing golf. I find it fun.
“Played a lot of golf with my mate, Charles, and I got my confidence up. I feel like when I'm on the golf course now, I pretend I'm at home with my friends and be more relaxed. That's what I'm doing and it seems to be working.”
But it wasn’t all fun and games for Hull while she was back home. She spent a lot of time working on her putting, which has been a strong point of her game thus far at The Ascendant LPGA where she is averaging 24.5 putts per round.
“When I was home I was working quite hard on my putting because I felt like that's the (most boring) part of the game to practice,” Hull said. “I don't practice it as much as I should, so I've been doing like two hours each day and just trying to fix it.”
A win this weekend would be Hull’s second on Tour, her first coming at the 2016 CME Group Tour Championship. While a win would certainly feel good after all these years, Hull is not putting any extra pressure on herself going into the weekend. She’s sticking to the same mindset that has kept her in contention for the last five rounds of play.
“Just carry on doing what I'm doing now,” Hull said of her game plan going forward. “Just one step at a time. Go out there, have fun. Good or bad shot, at the end of the day it is just a game. That's the way I'll look at it.”
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