Golf Channel will have live coverage from 7-9 p.m. ET Thursday and Friday and from 6-9 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday.
CHANDLER, Ariz. — One might say she’s off and running.
Charley Hull, who ran so hard on the treadmill Wednesday that her feet bled through her shoe, ran again before Thursday’s first round at the 2025 Ford Championship. This time, it was after a 2:30 a.m. wake-up call to phone family back home in England before running a 7K on a treadmill. But she must’ve decided that wasn’t enough of a pre-golf workout.
“Then I had some rowing thresholds to do, and then I trained my lower body, so like my legs. I was in the gym from 4 until 6,” she said.
Hull then teed off on the 10th hole at 7:44 a.m. local time and proceeded to shoot a career-low round, a 9-under 63 on the fast track at the Cattail Course at Whirlwind Golf Club.
She recorded four first-nine birdies, made the turn in 32, then reeled off three straight birdies on Nos. 1, 2 and 3 before two more on the fifth and seventh holes. She closed with two straight pars but still posted a personal best round, one that included 18-for-18 in greens in regulation.
After signing her scorecard, she admitted that while it was a fun spin around this track, she actually doesn’t like birdie-fests like this.
“No, I don’t, no,” she said. “I like the majors when they’re long, hard and tight. That’s usually my favorite kind of golf. I wish we played more. … I wish they made it more like that on the LPGA. That’s why I always like the harder golf courses, which are usually the majors anyway.”
Hull has three other LPGA appearances in Arizona
- 2018 Founders Cup at Wildfire – 39th, 6 under
- 2019 Founders Cup at Wildfire – 58th, 7 under
- 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain – 7th, 16 under
She was in Arizona last year for the Ford, played at a different golf course, but WD’d due to illness.
Hull says she should’ve gone even lower than 63
“I feel like I left actually a good four shots out there, she said. “Like the last, I lipped on the left edge. The hole before I left it like an inch short. Went in the jaws on a few holes before and it just stayed out. Then I missed birdie putt on the front nine, and that was like from like six feet. So I’m looking back thinking, ‘Oh, I could have done more.'”
She even admitted that golf’s magical number crept into her head.
“When I was coming down, I think it was the fourth hole today, so like the 12th or 13th hole, I was like, ‘Oh, I could try and shoot 59.’ Then I missed the putt on that hole.”
There are still 54 holes to go and the weather should cool before the weekend but Hull, the 10th-ranked player in the world, can set her sights on a third LPGA win and first since 2022.
Read the full article here
