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Pub gardens, long walks and remarkably few golf holes… this was Charley Hull’s preparations for the penultimate major of the season. And the Englishwoman duly proved that playing fresh can have its advantages when posting a fine opening 66 at the Evian Championship.
On five-under, Hull, the 26-year-old from Kettering is three behind pacesetter Ayaka Furue and after relaxing in Britain’s heatwave, feels, as she put it, “really chilled”. There were six birdies and the solitary bogey at the Evian Resort Club, overlooking Lake Geneva, to help her mood.
“I haven’t played competitively in three weeks but think you need to get out of the grind every now and again, even in the meat of the season,” she said. “The sun has been out at home and it was time to visit pub gardens and go on long walks. I practised every day, but hardly went on the golf course itself. It was about getting my head together and getting really chilled.”
In truth, Hall has always been laid back, managing to harbour a blessedly relaxed attitude even when the experts have been urgently declaring that this former girl wonder has yet to fulfill her huge potential.
Hull, the world No 38, has six major top 10s to her name, but interestingly none in the French major. Granted, it is a quirky layout and may not be considered ideal for such a quality ball-striker. Yet she believes that she should have done better in nine previous Evian appearances than a best finish of tied 22nd.
“When I was younger, the course I played on was pretty much as slopey as this on the fairways,” she said. “So I’m quite lucky that I don’t have to think too much about adjusting. I’ve always just automatically adjusted. I don’t know, I find it tricky to score around here, but maybe after nine years I’m figuring it out. Hopefully, I’ll just post three more scores like this and stay patient.”
It is a quality leaderboard as the best…
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Source : yahoo
