Charley Hull on the KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship.
Getty Photographs
SAMMAMISH, Wash. — Three attitudes. Three conditions. Three quotes that’ll make you consider golf, how they play it and the way you would possibly play it, too. And from three golfers who every may win a serious championship on Sunday.
Right here they’re.
Charley Hull arrived at Sahalee’s seventeenth tee red-hot. It was Saturday on the KPMG Girls’s PGA and she or he’d birdied No. 10 after which No. 11 after which No. 12; out of the blue she was three below par for the day, 4 below for the event and had vaulted her method close to the highest of the leaderboard. The gallery round her grew and she or he’d missed the inexperienced at No. 16 however had saved par there, too, clanking an eight-footer off the flagstick and in; her pin-in placing is part of her iconography alongside together with her Malbon matches and the occasional cloud of smoke.
However then, as she stepped to the tee on the iconic seventeenth, a par-3 surrounded by water, an intrusive thought arrived.
“In truth, yesterday I hit a shot on the inexperienced 30 ft from the pin. Didn’t assume nothing of it,” the Englishwoman mentioned later. “My mate yesterday goes, ‘What occurred to you on 17? You just about hit it within the water.’ I used to be like, ‘No I didn’t.’
The unusual encounter resurfaced as she thought of her play. It took her out of the second.
“So, bought to the tee field and I’m considering to myself, ‘I by no means almost hit within the water.’”
Hull’s tee shot by no means stood an opportunity; the opening performed some 190 yards however her chunked iron shot flew simply 157 earlier than splashing down quick and proper of dry land. She headed to the drop zone, hit the inexperienced and three-putted for a deflating triple-bogey 6.
“I simply fatted it,” Hull mentioned remorsefully. “Wasn’t even within the shot. It was annoying. It wasn’t like me. I performed so properly on the market at this time, I didn’t do one factor incorrect and bought up and down after I wanted to…”
Till the thought. And the shot. And the triple. That’s how 69 turned 72.
The lesson? Don’t hearken to your silly buddies. Don’t deal with the water. Don’t let up, simply since you’ve performed 16 near-perfect holes. Maintain the pedal down. Even a red-hot professional can let a wierd, unfavourable swing thought creep in.
“Yeah, however I’m nonetheless optimistic going into tomorrow’s spherical,” Hull mentioned. She’s now six photographs again however clearly in good kind. “Something can occur.”
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Lilia Vu realized one thing as she arrived on property this week: Her typical shot form wasn’t going to get it accomplished.
The World No. 2 likes to work the ball from proper to left; a draw is her bread and butter. However Sahalee’s bowling-alley fairways usually demand a unique ball flight, particularly one which goes from straight to straight. So Vu has needed to be adaptable.
“I’m beginning to see the photographs higher off the tee,” Vu mentioned after leaping again into rivalry with a third-round 68. “This course makes you hit photographs each methods, and I believe that was one thing that I needed to be taught fairly early on this week.”
A reporter adopted as much as ask when in her profession she’d discovered find out how to work the ball each methods. However Vu had meant “this week” fairly actually.
“Truthfully I believe it was this week,” she mentioned with a smile. “I type of like to remain a creature of behavior with my push-draw. Can’t actually try this when it’s ten yards of timber proper right here off each tee field.”
Vu acknowledged that even when she tries to hit a minimize, it’s “mainly like a two-yard left-to-right motion.” A banana slice just isn’t in her repertoire. However that two-yarder is getting the job accomplished. And she or he’s getting extra snug trusting it down slender inexperienced hallways.
It’s half of a bigger theme in her sport: Vu is adjusting on the fly. Final week she returned after lacking a number of months as a consequence of damage. Although doubt returned together with her, she confirmed no indicators of rust and wound up successful in a playoff. This week she’s contending towards a discipline of the strongest gamers on the planet. The right way to clarify it? She cited her angle. And her expectations.
“I’m comparatively proud how properly I’ve performed the previous two weeks,” she mentioned. “Yeah, low expectations and I’m simply out right here appreciating the sport greater than I ever have.”
The expectation factor doesn’t come simply; Vu has all the time held herself to a sky-high commonplace. She is aware of in principle that golf just isn’t a sport of excellent. She is aware of she ought to give herself grace. Doing so is working. But it surely’s nonetheless robust to place that into follow.
“It’s not as straightforward as you’ll assume,” she mentioned. “It’s a piece in progress. I really feel like I’m battling that each week.”
The lesson: An open thoughts and low expectations are a robust mixture. Plus a two-yard minimize off the tee.
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Jin Younger Ko stepped to the microphone after her second-round four-under-par 68, among the many low rounds of the event. She was unimpressed.
“Yesterday was a lot better than at this time,” she mentioned matter-of-factly. Her irons had felt iffy. Rating isn’t the whole lot.
It’s been a captivating run of kind for Ko, who spent a number of years as essentially the most constant participant on the planet and set data together with her stints at World No. 1 however whose kind has been much less dependable of late. She entered this week having gone 4 begins in a row and not using a prime 10 — hardly a criminal offense, however not one thing she’s used to.
When Ko addressed the press she had simply completed a spherical in the identical group as Lexi Thompson, whose following is as massive as anybody’s within the sport. A couple of instances Ko heard cheers for herself amongst the refrain of Lexi cheers. She was grateful for these.
She was grateful for good golf, too. Right here’s how she put it:
“I’m actually grateful to be taking part in actually good,” Ko mentioned. “As a result of the final couple months I wasn’t taking part in good, so I practiced lots and I spotted: golf just isn’t straightforward nevertheless it’s not too arduous.
“The whole lot is from my thoughts. If I’m considering, like, ‘let’s play easy,’ it comes out very well. However like, this golf course isn’t straightforward; this golf course is basically tough. So if I’m overthinking, the consequence comes out unhealthy. So I’m making an attempt to assume straightforward.”
Ko solely started talking English in 2019; now she will be able to describe the sport of golf as succinctly as anybody.
The lesson? Simply what she mentioned. Golf just isn’t straightforward nevertheless it’s not too arduous. If you happen to’re overthinking, the consequence comes out unhealthy. There you go. Assume straightforward.
And critically, don’t take into consideration the water.
