Charley Hull found her groove only to make a huge error on the 17th in the third round of the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open.
The 21-year-old from Kettering in England was five-under-par for the day after 16 holes at Kooyonga Golf Club, despite a double-bogey at the short third hole, only to fritter away three strokes with a triple bogey on the 17th.
Heading to the 17th tee five strokes behind the leader, Jin Young Ko, Hull she pushed her drive into awful trouble and could only bunt it out backwards.
From there, she found another poor lie and hit her third shot into the water. After her pitch rolled over the green, she opted to putt from just off the green and her ball rolled 15 feet past the pin, but she made a solid putt for a seven, followed by a sand save on the par-4 18th hole and a third round of 70, to end the day on three-under-par.
After her returning her score card, her spirits remained high and she said: “I’m happy with my round, I’m playing really good, especially at the start of the season. It was a shame on 17, because I didn’t hit much of a bad drive really and it just took a massive bounce off the fairway and ended up in the bush, and then I chipped out of it, actually an all right chip out there and then the lie that I had where I chipped out was on the fairway, but it was in a weird V like that, so I hit it, it pulled it, pushed it to the right and I chipped up and then two putted. But I was really happy with my round and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
This is Hull’s second start of 2018 after a tie for 26th in the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic. The three-time European Solheim Cup team member, now in her sixth year on tour, is looking for her third career win after the 2014 Lalla Meryem Cup on the LET and the 2016 CME Group Tour Championship on the LPGA.
