Georgia Hall waited patiently beside the 18th green at Old American Golf Club with a champagne bottle in hand, eager to shower Charley Hull, her dear friend and fellow Englishwoman in victory. The two Brits celebrated on the 72nd hole as Hull captured her first victory in six years at The Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America in The Colony, Texas.
It was fitting that Hall was the one there to celebrate with Hull, who, with her win on Sunday, joined her friend as part of an elite group. Hull became only the fifth woman from England to win multiple times on the LPGA Tour. she joins Laura Davies, Trish Johnson, Karen Stupples, and Hall with her second career win. Hull’s maiden victory came at the CME Group Tour Championship in 2016.
“Feels really good, especially to see Georgia, she's like my best friend, on the 18th green, and she sprayed me with a bottle of champagne whatever it was. It's just really cool, especially after seeing her win the British Open and then in Portland a couple years ago,” Hull said about seeing her friend win on the LPGA Tour. “Kind of spurs you on and it's good how we can push each other, because we hang out a lot off the golf course, so it's good.”
Friends finding inspiration in each other has been a familiar refrain this season on the LPGA Tour. In August, South Africa’s Paula Reto earned her maiden win at the CP Women’s Open after being inspired by seeing her friend and fellow countrywoman Ashleigh Buhai win for the first time at the AIG Women’s Open.
With Hull’s victory on Sunday, England became the 13th different country represented by winners this season on the LPGA Tour. A year ago, Matilda Castren made history as the first player from Finland to win on tour when she broke through at the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship. Castren returns the week as defending champion in what will be the final event of a six-week stretch that has seen the world’s best crisscross the United States.
For the past three years, the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship has found a home at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, California. But this year’s championship will move six hours south to The Saticoy Club in Somis, California, which is an hour northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The LPGA’s visit marks the first professional golf tournament to be held at the club and the tour’s first event in the area in more than two decades.
Five of this season’s winners make up the limited 120-player field that will compete at The Saticoy Club for the $1.8 million purse.
Danielle Kang, who went to high school just a 30-minute drive from the club, is making a homecoming to Southern California. Kang won the season opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
Atthaya Thitikul, a rookie and two-time winner at the JTBC Classic presented by Barbasol and the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, is also in the field. She’s joined by fellow rookie Ayaka Furue, who is also a winner this season at the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open.
Rolex First Time Winners Andrea Lee, Maja Stark and Paula Reto will also compete in California.
Someone will be patiently waiting beside the 18th green of The Saticoy Club with champagne, or another bubbly beverage of choice in hand, eager to shower their friend in victory after 72 holes on Sunday. Will there be a winner like Hull, who sees the end to a long winless drought? Or perhaps a champion like Castren, who will become the first from her country to win on Tour?
Whoever the winner, whatever the circumstances, history will be made as the LPGA crowns a champion, for the very first time, come Sunday, at The Saticoy Club.
)
)
)
)
