Chandler, Arizona – Charlie Hull finished her long, active day without soaking into her socks. This is just a 9-under 63 bogeyless card that gave Nanna Korsz Madsen a one-shot lead in the opening round at the Ford Championship.
Nelly Korda returned to tournament play after skipping an Asian swing, gathering with four birdies on the back nine and opening at 67 to catch Hal.
Her driver was the key to Hull’s round at the Whirlwind Golf Club, and she wasn’t even sure what to expect. She tweaked the club early in the week and did official work on TaylorMade.
“And I hit it really, really, really well,” Hal said. “It felt like it put me in a lot of good positions. I puttted pretty well. I was pretty well. I was pretty well. I hit it pretty well with my own iron shot.”
Hal played so well that instead of the nine birdies she made, she was thinking more about four birdie putts she narrowly missed in the nine instead of nine she made, including one stretch of five birdies on six holes on the turn.
Koerstz Madsen also had nine birdies, but was offset by one bogey on the fifth par. One of her birdies was a bonus. The 10th hole bunker shot felt it had 8 feet into the hole except that it hit a pin and fell for a surprising birdie.
Brooke Henderson and Say Young Kim were among eight 65-year-old players in a low-scoring day. The key was to get the ball on the fairway to handle a solid green.
Hal had quite a few days. She woke up at 2am to call her British family, headed to the gym at 4am and ran 4.4 miles on the treadmill.
She’s been big in fitness lately. Her biggest goal she set for 2025 has nothing to do with golf. Rather, it’s her bid to run 5K within 20 minutes. Hal went hard to it early in the week, finding himself smearing his socks through his toes.
She also placed a $10,000 bet when she stopped smoking with fellow Pro Ryan Evans.
Everything seems to be going well, especially on the golf course. She rarely strayed from position and was about to birdie every hole. And she thinks it could have been better.
“I feel like I actually left a good four shot there,” he said. “Finally I ripped it to the left edge. I left the hole just an inch short. I went to the chin with a few holes before, then went outside. Then I missed the birdie putt on the front nine.
At some point in her second nine, she began to think about the 59. And she missed the putt.
“I was trying to get as low as I could,” she said. “To be fair, my boyfriend told me, “What makes me happy is to look at you at the top of the leaderboard and break it.” That’s what I had in my head. ”