Minjee Lee squandered a five-shot lead to Charley Hull before beating her to victory at the Kroger Queen City Championship; Hull will be part of Suzann Pettersen's Solheim Cup team for Team Europe at Finca Cortesin in Spain, live from September 22-24 on Sky Sports Golf
Tuesday 12 September 2023 12:39, UK
Charley Hull is relishing the prospect of securing a historic third consecutive Solheim Cup for Team Europe later this month after narrowly missing out again on an LPGA Tour victory.
The Englishwoman was five shots behind Minjee Lee with eight holes left to play of the Kroger Queen City Championship on Sunday, only to produce a sensational back-nine charge to force a play-off.
Hull cancelled out a birdie at the 11th with a dropped shot at the next, where Lee made a double-bogey to see her lead cut to three, before three consecutive birdies from the 14th moved her alongside her playing partner on 16 under.
A sensational putt from off the back of the green by Hull on the first extra hole was millimetres away from completing a dramatic victory, stopping alongside the pin, before Lee secured the win with a tap-in birdie on the second play-off hole.
Hull's runner-up finish follows second-placed efforts at the US Women's Open and the AIG Women's Open this summer, with the 27-year-old now focused on making a sixth consecutive Solheim Cup appearance for Team Europe.
"I'm looking forward to Solheim," Hull said. "I'm looking forward to doing some work next week with my coach and just getting into it again and closing out the season.
"Suzann (Pettersen) is going to be a great captain. She's one of my favourite players ever to play the game, so it's pretty cool. I wish she was on the team."
Hull's runner-up finish is her third in as many months on the LPGA Tour and fifth worldwide since her most recent victory the Ascendent LPGA last October, with former Ladies European Tour player Sophie Walker impressed by her progress in recent seasons.
"The biggest credit I can say about Charley at the moment is her reliability," Walker told the Sky Sports Golf podcast. "The kid just can't stop finishing second, that's the thing that's annoying! She has had three seconds in the last few months and you wonder when she will actually get that win.
"She putted the lights out this whole week, so it didn't really surprise me about the putt in the play-off that was a little bit like the Tiger Woods moment on 16 at Augusta.
"I've always loved watching Charley Hull but now you can see there's a bit more calmness to the approach. I followed her at the AIG Women's Open and there were a lot of looks towards the target, especially on tee shots.
"She seems to have sorted that out - she has a couple of early looks and then she stays quite quiet over the ball for what seems a longer period of time. I think that's better than having too many looks like she has been doing.
"She's top 10 in the world and having one of her best seasons on the LPGA Tour. The AIG Women's Open would have been the fairytale and everybody was thinking 'here we go' but Lilia Vu to her credit played a lot better than Charley and won.
"I just think women's golf needs somebody like a Charley Hull and they've got it right now. You have to watch her when she's on Sky Sports because she is box office."
This week's Sky Sports Golf podcast also reflects on a dramatic final day at the Horizon Irish Open, where Shane Lowry impressed and Rory McIlroy faltered as Vincent Norrman claimed a shock victory, plus takes a look ahead to the BMW PGA Championship.
Download and listen to the latest Sky Sports Golf podcast and don't forget to subscribe via Spotify, Spreaker or Apple Podcasts! If you'd like to contact the podcast, then you can email at golf@skysports.com.
Who will win the 2023 Solheim Cup? Watch exclusively live this September on Sky Sports! Live coverage from the opening ceremony begins at 5pm on Thursday September 21, with the opening day's play live on the Friday from 6.30am. Stream the Solheim Cup and more with NOW.
