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Charley Hull on the KPMG Ladies’s PGA Championship.
Getty Photos
SAMMAMISH, Wash. — Three attitudes. Three conditions. Three quotes that’ll make you concentrate on golf, how they play it and the way you would possibly play it, too. And from three golfers who every might win a significant championship on Sunday.
Right here they’re.
Charley Hull arrived at Sahalee’s seventeenth tee red-hot. It was Saturday on the KPMG Women’s PGA and he or she’d birdied No. 10 after which No. 11 after which No. 12; all of the sudden she was three underneath par for the day, 4 underneath for the event and had vaulted her manner close to the highest of the leaderboard. The gallery round her grew and he or she’d missed the inexperienced at No. 16 however had saved par there, too, clanking an eight-footer off the flagstick and in; her pin-in placing is part of her iconography alongside along with her Malbon suits and the occasional cloud of smoke.
However then, as she stepped to the tee on the iconic seventeenth, a par-3 surrounded by water, an intrusive thought arrived.
“In truth, yesterday I hit a shot on the inexperienced 30 ft from the pin. Didn’t assume nothing of it,” the Englishwoman mentioned later. “My mate yesterday goes, ‘What occurred to you on 17? You almost hit it within the water.’ I used to be like, ‘No I didn’t.’
The unusual encounter resurfaced as she thought-about her play. It took her out of the second.
“So, bought to the tee field and I’m pondering to myself, ‘I by no means almost hit within the water.’”
Hull’s tee shot by no means stood an opportunity; the opening performed some 190 yards however her chunked iron shot flew simply 157 earlier than splashing down brief and proper of dry land. She headed to the drop zone, hit the inexperienced and three-putted for a deflating triple-bogey 6.
“I simply fatted it,” Hull mentioned remorsefully. “Wasn’t even within the shot. It was annoying. It wasn’t like me. I performed so effectively on the market in the present day, I didn’t do one factor unsuitable and bought up and down after I wanted to…”
Till the thought. And the shot. And the triple. That’s how 69 turned 72.
The lesson? Don’t hearken to your silly buddies. Don’t deal with the water. Don’t let up, simply since you’ve performed 16 near-perfect holes. Maintain the pedal down. Even a red-hot professional can let a wierd, adverse swing thought creep in.
“Yeah, however I’m nonetheless constructive going into tomorrow’s spherical,” Hull mentioned. She’s now six pictures again however clearly in good type. “Something can occur.”
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Lilia Vu realized one thing as she arrived on property this week: Her typical shot form wasn’t going to get it completed.
The World No. 2 likes to work the ball from proper to left; a draw is her bread and butter. However Sahalee’s bowling-alley fairways usually demand a special ball flight, particularly one which goes from straight to straight. So Vu has needed to be adaptable.
“I’m beginning to see the pictures higher off the tee,” Vu mentioned after leaping again into competition with a third-round 68. “This course makes you hit pictures each methods, and I believe that was one thing that I needed to be taught fairly early on this week.”
A reporter adopted as much as ask when in her profession she’d discovered easy methods to work the ball each methods. However Vu had meant “this week” fairly actually.
“Actually I believe it was this week,” she mentioned with a smile. “I type of like to remain a creature of behavior with my push-draw. Can’t actually try this when it’s ten yards of bushes proper right here off each tee field.”
Vu acknowledged that even when she tries to hit a reduce, it’s “principally like a two-yard left-to-right motion.” A banana slice shouldn’t be in her repertoire. However that two-yarder is getting the job completed. And he or she’s getting extra snug trusting it down slender inexperienced hallways.
It’s half of a bigger theme in her sport: Vu is adjusting on the fly. Final week she returned after lacking a number of months as a result of harm. Although doubt returned along with her, she confirmed no indicators of rust and wound up profitable in a playoff. This week she’s contending in opposition to a discipline of the strongest gamers on the planet. The way to clarify it? She cited her perspective. And her expectations.
“I’m comparatively proud how effectively I’ve performed the previous two weeks,” she mentioned. “Yeah, low expectations and I’m simply out right here appreciating the sport greater than I ever have.”
The expectation factor doesn’t come simply; Vu has all the time held herself to a sky-high customary. She is aware of in concept that golf shouldn’t be a sport of excellent. She is aware of she ought to give herself grace. Doing so is working. However it’s nonetheless powerful to place that into observe.
“It’s not as straightforward as you’ll assume,” she mentioned. “It’s a piece in progress. I really feel like I’m battling that each week.”
The lesson: An open thoughts and low expectations are a strong mixture. Plus a two-yard reduce off the tee.
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Jin Younger Ko stepped to the microphone after her second-round four-under-par 68, among the many low rounds of the event. She was unimpressed.
“Yesterday was significantly better than in the present day,” she mentioned matter-of-factly. Her irons had felt iffy. Rating isn’t every little thing.
It’s been an interesting run of type for Ko, who spent a number of years as probably the most constant participant on the planet and set data along with her stints at World No. 1 however whose type has been much less dependable of late. She entered this week having gone 4 begins in a row with no high 10 — hardly a criminal offense, however not one thing she’s used to.
When Ko addressed the press she had simply completed a spherical in the identical group as Lexi Thompson, whose following is as massive as anybody’s within the sport. Just a few instances Ko heard cheers for herself amongst the refrain of Lexi cheers. She was grateful for these.
She was grateful for good golf, too. Right here’s how she put it:
“I’m actually grateful to be taking part in actually good,” Ko mentioned. “As a result of the final couple months I wasn’t taking part in good, so I practiced loads and I spotted: golf shouldn’t be straightforward however it’s not too arduous.
“The whole lot is from my thoughts. If I’m pondering, like, ‘let’s play easy,’ it comes out very well. However like, this golf course isn’t straightforward; this golf course is absolutely tough. So if I’m overthinking, the consequence comes out unhealthy. So I’m attempting to assume straightforward.”
Ko solely started talking English in 2019; now she will describe the sport of golf as succinctly as anybody.
The lesson? Simply what she mentioned. Golf shouldn’t be straightforward however it’s not too arduous. If you happen to’re overthinking, the consequence comes out unhealthy. There you go. Suppose straightforward.
And critically, don’t take into consideration the water.
