September 27, 2019, Indianapolis, IN, USA: INDIANAPOLIS, IN - SEPTEMBER 27: LPGA golfer Charley Hull reacts to making a putt on the 11th hole during the second round of the Indy Women In Tech on September 27, 2019 at the Brickyard Crossing Golf Club in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire) (Credit Image: © Brian Spurlock/Icon SMI via ZUMA Press)
This, of course, is the problem with virality: Once the internet brands you (and we should note here that Hull’s viral moment originated with a GOLF.com social post), for better or worse that affiliation can be tough to shake. Take the Solheim Cup last week. When a reporter posted a video of Hull cozying up to the rope line and borrowing a fan’s lighter, Golf Twitter gobbled it up; Barstool Sports also got in on the action, publishing an article that dubbed Hull the “People’s Golfer” and described her lighting up mid-round as “the coolest damn thing you ever did see.” The dart, the aviator shades, Hull’s glam: it all just kind of works together. Even at the Paris Olympics, where smoking was banned, Hull’s habit became a story line. The question on reporters’ minds: How would not getting her fix influence Hull’s play?
Years ago, when she was selected as a captain’s pick to play in her first Solheim Cup — she was only 17 then — she said she remembered feeling “disappointed” because she had “a birthday party I was meant to be going to that weekend.” At that same Solheim Cup, though, Hull quickly became a media favorite for her candor. Asked about her steely teammate Suzann Pettersen, who was seated next to Hull in a group press conference, Hull said: “She’s really experienced, but she’s not really that old, to be honest. I meant that in a nice way. Next question, please.”
That’s Hull, and always has been. Growing up in Northamptonshire, England, Hull dropped out of school when she was 12; her parents, Dave, a plasterer, and mother, Basienka, who was an accomplished tennis player, elected to homeschool their daughter, though it’s unclear how much schooling actually took place. “I didn’t do any school work when I left school, I just played golf,” Charley told Golf Monthly in 2020, referring to the many hours she logged at Kettering Golf Club. “Usually people would be at school from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; I was playing golf from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day. I was playing with the lads down at the golf club because they sometimes skived off school to play with me and we just had a few games. A few of them were a lot older than me.”
