{"id":34262,"date":"2025-07-30T20:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T20:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/34262\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T20:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T20:39:10","slug":"aig-womens-open-charley-hull-opens-up-on-major-hopes-lottie-woads-rise-links-golf-struggles-and-fitness-issues-golf-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/34262\/","title":{"rendered":"AIG Women&#8217;s Open: Charley Hull opens up on major hopes, Lottie Woad&#8217;s rise, links golf struggles and fitness issues | Golf News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Charley Hull insists she is not bothered by the lack of attention on her ahead of the AIG Women&#8217;s Open, but has been frustrated by her fitness in the build-up to the final major of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Hull was forced to withdraw from the Evian Championship earlier this month after collapsing mid-round with a virus, with the two-time major runner-up still not back to 100 per cent for last week&#8217;s ISPS Handa Women&#8217;s Scottish Open.<\/p>\n<p>The world No 20 has had hopes of an English major victory pinned on her in recent seasons, but has seen that expectation switch to Lottie Woad, who made a winning start to her professional career with an impressive victory in Scotland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sdc-site-video__accessibility-message\" data-role=\"accessibility-message\">Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/skysports-anna-nordqvist-golf_6977961.jpg\" alt=\"''She's not scared of anything' | Nordqvist expects Woad to thrive at 2026 Solheim Cup\"  aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster-img excluded-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>              Team Europe Solheim Cup captain Anna Nordqvist says he team is &#8216;shaping up nicely&#8217; and backs recently-turned pro Lottie Woad to be able to handle the pressure in the Netherlands in 2026<\/p>\n<p>Woad&#8217;s success follows her winning the KPMG Women&#8217;s Irish Open as an amateur and finishing tied-third at the Evian Championship, with Hull proud of her rapid rise to the top of the women&#8217;s game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Listen, I think what Lottie Woad has done is absolutely unbelievable,&#8221; Hull said. &#8220;I played with her in the practice rounds in Ireland and I played with her in the first two rounds last week. At the minute, I feel like she&#8217;s playing with such confidence she can&#8217;t miss a shot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sdc-site-video__accessibility-message\" data-role=\"accessibility-message\">Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/skysports-golf-lottie-woad_6977376.jpg\" alt=\"Lottie Woad\"  aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster-img excluded-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>              Speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, Karen Stupples says that she believes that Lottie Woad &#8216;has potential to be a World beater&#8217; <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s great to see. She&#8217;s a breath of fresh air for the game. At the end of the day, I want to win the tournament and everything, but I don&#8217;t care when people say, &#8216;Oh, I&#8217;m still here.&#8217; I am still here!<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m actually really proud of Lottie for what she&#8217;s done. That&#8217;s like goose bumps kind of stuff.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On whether she was concerned about not being focused on as heavily this year, Hull said: &#8220;I want to see my name on the trophy &#8211; I don&#8217;t care about being up in the headlines.<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/skysports-charley-hull-golf_6961763.jpg\"   alt=\"Charley HUll \"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Image:<br \/>\n        Charley Hull plays alongside Jeeno Thitikul and Minjee Lee over the first two rounds<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t really read the headlines. I literally go out there and play golf and play good and hopefully get my name on the trophy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hull revealed that she has lost four kilograms in weight since her virus, which limited her ability to prepare for this week&#8217;s major in Wales, while an additional back issue has hampered her training.<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/skysports-charley-hull-golf_6978013.jpg\"   alt=\"Via the R&amp;A\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Image:<br \/>\n        Hull has finished no higher than 12th in the first four women&#8217;s majors of the year<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On Sunday, I pretty much felt back to normal,&#8221; Hull explained. &#8220;It took like three weeks. It&#8217;s been quite frustrating because I&#8217;ve not been able to get out into the gym.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I did a run yesterday, actually, but the week before I was sick, I hurt my back lifting a box out of my car. Then my back&#8217;s been really playing up and I&#8217;ve not been hitting it as well because I&#8217;ve not been able to go to the gym and do my rehab exercises.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sdc-site-video__accessibility-message\" data-role=\"accessibility-message\">Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/skysports-charley-hull_6977980.jpg\" alt=\"CHARLEY HULL FIRSTS AND FAVOURITES\"  aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster-img excluded-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>              Charley Hull takes on &#8216;Firsts and Favourites&#8217; to discuss her favourite golfers and first tournament wins<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got a driver in the bag, and obviously I&#8217;m going to use it. I feel like I&#8217;ve lost a bit of distance where I&#8217;ve been poorly lately and not really been to the gym, so my swing speed is down, probably about eight miles an hour.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not hitting it the best coming into this week, which is very frustrating because it&#8217;s an event I&#8217;ve been looking forward to playing all year. I&#8217;ve just got to go out there with what I&#8217;ve got. I&#8217;m not going to let it beat me up too much.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hull has posted top-20 finishes in seven of the last 10 majors and finished runner-up to Lilia Vu in the 2023 AIG Women&#8217;s Open, although she admits that links golf is something she struggles with more than other styles of course.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sdc-site-video__accessibility-message\" data-role=\"accessibility-message\">Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/skysports-aig-womens-open-course-guide_6977995.jpg\" alt=\"aig womens open course guide\"  aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster-img excluded-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>              Trish Johnson takes a closer look at the Royal Porthcawl course ahead of this AIG Women&#8217;s Open<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d love to win a major title,&#8221; Hull said. &#8220;To be honest, I don&#8217;t think the AIG Women&#8217;s Open on links suits me the most. That&#8217;s why I always find that I play well at the US Open, but I think I&#8217;ve got to get that out of my head.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When we play in Walton Heath or Woburn, I always find those kinds of courses suit my game a lot more. It&#8217;s more visually off the tee. I find links quite intimidating.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Who will win the AIG Women&#8217;s Open? Watch throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage from the opening round begins on Thursday from midday on Sky Sports Golf. Not got Sky? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nowtv.com\/watch-sky-sports-online?DCMP=ilc_skysports_nc_articlelink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stream the women&#8217;s majors and more with no contract<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charley Hull insists she is not bothered by the lack of attention on her ahead of the AIG&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-34262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}