CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — Charley Hull ended her long and active day without any blood seeping through her sock, only a bogey-free card of 9-under 63 that gave her a one-shot lead over Nanna Koertz Madsen in the opening round Thursday at the Ford Championship.
Nelly Korda, returning to work after skipping the Asia swing, rallied with four birdies on the back nine and opened with a 67 in her bid to catch up to Hull, who has been as entertaining as ever.
Key to Hull's round at Whirlwind Golf Club was her driver, and she wasn't even sure what to expect. She tweaked the club early in the week and had a TaylorMade official work on it.
“And I really, really, really hit it well today,” Hull said. “I felt like that put me in a lot of good positions. I putted pretty well. I chipped pretty well. I hit it pretty well with my iron shots.”
She was playing so well that Hull thought more about the four birdie putts that she narrowly missed instead of the nine that she made, including one stretch of five birdies in six holes around the turn.
Koertz Madsen also had nine birdies, offset by one bogey on the par-5 fifth. One of her birdies was a bonus, a bunker shot on the 10th hole that she felt would have gone 8 feet by the hole except that it hit the pin and dropped for a surprise birdie.
Brooke Henderson of Canada and Sei Young Kim were among eight players at 65 on a day of low scoring. The key was getting the ball in the fairway to handle firm greens.
Hull had quite the day. She awoke at 2 a.m. to call her family in England, and then headed to the gym at 4 a.m. and ran seven kilometers (4.4 miles) on the treadmill.
She is big on fitness these days. Her biggest goal that she has set for 2025 has nothing to do with golf, rather her bid to run a 5K in under 20 minutes. She went so hard at it earlier in the week that Hull noticed blood from her toe oozing through her sock.
She also made a $10,000 bet with fellow pro Ryan Evans that she will quit smoking.
All seems to be going well, especially on the golf course. She was rarely out of position and was putting for birdie or better on every hole. And she thinks it could have been better.
“I feel like I left actually a good four shots out there,” he 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 6 feet. So I’m looking back thinking, ‘Oh, I could have done more.’”
At one point on her second nine, she started thinking about a 59. And then she missed the putt.
“I was just trying to go as low as I could,” she said. “To be fair, my boyfriend said to me, ‘What will make me happy is seeing you on the top of the leaderboard and just smash it.’ That’s what I had in my head.”
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The Associated Press
