Why Hull's US Open near-miss shows major win is close
· BBC SportBy
Iain Carter
Golf correspondent
Published
All-out attack is rarely a winning recipe in US Opens, but at the Riviera Country Club it very nearly paid off for Charley Hull.
She is surely on course to break her major duck sometime soon and in California last Sunday it was only the brilliance of a dominant world number one that bettered the British star.
In an exhilarating US Women's Open at Riviera Country Club, Hull posted a record-equalling weekend charge while finishing a shot shy of Nelly Korda's winning total.
It is a familiar tale for Hull.
She is no stranger to slow starts and rapid finishes in the game's biggest tournaments and there were echoes of Pebble Beach three years ago when she was joint runner-up to Allisen Corpuz.
That was when the 30-year-old from Kettering adopted the mantra of "shy girls don't get sweets" and she ended up three shots behind.
This time it was a more blunt, less family-friendly phrase that drove her "go for it" mentality.
Hull followed her third-round 65, the lowest score of a thrilling week in Pacific Palisades, with an adrenaline-fuelled closing 67 that began with an eagle and a birdie inside the first three holes.
"Just go for it," she said. "I love playing golf like that.
"I feel like sometimes, the first two days, I'm in a keep my head in the game. You can't go for everything because it's just early on, but now I have nothing to lose.
"I can just go at everything and play free golf like I do at home and it's more fun."
Her weekend total of 132 matched Meg Mallon's championship record set in 2004 and was largely down to a vastly improved performance on the greens. Hull, who hit 13 of 14 fairways last Friday, totalled 63 putts in the first two rounds.
But she was 10 putts better in the final two circuits even with crucial misses at the ninth, 12th and 14th holes of the final round. Despite those there was still plenty to suggest Hull will one day soon make her major breakthrough.
The way she played the closing hole, especially, inspires such optimism. Left with a must make 10-footer to set the clubhouse lead, Hull calmly and decisively slotted a putt that, at that moment, might have been for the title.
Korda, of course, had other ideas and her brilliant up and down for birdie at the par-five 17th meant the world number one only needed a par at the last to make it two out of two in the majors this year.
And it was a nerve-shredding putt from inside three feet that travelled most of the circumference of the hole before dropping that deservedly saw Korda home. An "ice cream swirl" she called it, after fearing she had blown her chance.
Hull and Gabby Lopez, who also finished seven under par, had to share second place - Hull's fifth runner-up finish in the majors.
She is knocking ever louder - two runner-up finishes in the past three majors and eight top-20s in the past 11 attest to that - and her many fans would love to think the door will finally open for such an exciting talent.
"I just love playing in the majors," Hull said. "If it's a normal week I struggle sometimes getting the motivation. But when it comes to major week, I just love it.
"If I even just make the cut, I can make a massive charge. I loved it out there. It was so much fun."
How Hull can learn from Korda
While Hull embraces all-out aggression, Korda - who is firmly on track for golfing greatness - took a more pragmatic approach to winning her fourth major title.
She leant heavily on caddie Jason McDede to ensure she landed the title she most coveted. "When I entered the back nine all Jay and I were talking about was one shot at a time," the champion said.
"Not getting too ahead of myself. Not looking at the leaderboard, seeing what other people were doing. It was just a shot at a time."
Korda, who won the Chevron Championship at a canter in April, now has four wins and three runner-up finishes in what is proving an extraordinary 2026 season.
No-one in the women's game currently knows better how to get over the finishing line.
"Major championships are about grinding it out and also having that little window where you can be aggressive," she said.
"I just did a really good job of staying patient and making those up and downs and then knowing that when I had that little window I was going to be aggressive."
Like Hull, Korda had to overcome a frustrating start. Her sister Jessica advised a subtle but discomfiting grip change after a two-over-par opening 73 in which she repeatedly lost drives to the right.
Putting has often been her weak link, but she gained more than three shots on the greens compared with the rest of the field and topped the statistical charts for scrambling.
"Even mid-round I was like, well, will I ever win it?" Korda said. "You always have those doubts, you're just a human being."
This was a classic US Open that tested every aspect of the game, technically and mentally. It was hard to run balls on to the greens because of the sticky approaches, but the sloping putting surfaces were often too firm to hold.
Korda's extra height to her approach shots provided a key benefit but her composure to repeatedly get up and down proved the difference.
While Hull's aggression brings the best out of the Briton, she would do well to embrace some of those more measured qualities of last week's winner in future major attempts.
Korda, meanwhile, can enjoy the biggest win of her stellar career to date. "I don't know if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders," she said.
"But I think I'm just extremely proud of my fight this week and the dream of that little girl that you kind of get to check that off your bucket list."
It would be a shame if we do not soon hear Hull saying something similar.