OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. — Conditions were brutal during the final round of the Aramco Team Series – New York, but looking at Charley Hull’s scorecard, you’d never know it.
The Englishwoman was bogey free in blustery conditions at Glen Oaks Club on Saturday, notching seven birdies in her round of 65 that clinched her the individual title.
“I played quite well,” Hull said. “Kept it quite simple.”
That simplicity was key with winds gusting out of the south at over 20 mph. On a day when just four players in the field broke 70, Hull was able to control her ball beautifully and tame the winds with relative ease.
Hull opened the round with four straight birdies, and she didn’t slow down after that. The 25-year-old added birdies on Nos. 8, 13 and 18, and avoided trouble for most of the day as she chased down 36-hole leader Nelly Korda for the one-shot victory.
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What was the key to Hull’s stellar Saturday? The old saying in golf goes, “when it’s breezy, swing easy,” and she told GOLF.com after the round that was the thought she leaned on throughout the day on the wind-blown course.
“I just tried to swing smooth,” Hull said. “I didn’t try and kill it, because otherwise you get too spinny and the ball can go anywhere.”
Controlling the ball as it bounds toward the green is only part of the battle in the gusty conditions though. Putting can also be an adventure when the winds are swirling — especially on slippery greens. But for anyone looking to put a pure roll on the ball in the wind, Hull had some sage advice.
“Keep your head down,” Hull said. “Don’t come up because you’re going to feel like you’re wobbling around in the wind. You just have to make sure to stay as still as you can.”