Charley Hull details gruelling 12 hours-a-day training routine for Paris Olympics: "I played ten rounds of golf in six days"
Charley Hull will be one of Great Britain's representatives in the women's golf competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The European star got off to a poor start, finishing the first round with a score of 9-over 81.
At the end of the round, Hull shared her assessment of her performance with the media. The British golfer assured that it was the result of her lack of competition due to a shoulder injury.
Here is part of what Hull said (via USA Today Sports):
"I feel a bit rusty, because obviously, it's been five weeks since I've last played properly a four-day event. Hopefully, I've got the rust off me and I'm looking forward to hopefully shoot 9 under tomorrow."
Hull also assured that despite her injury, she had intensive training to prepare for the Olympics. She said (via Golf Monthly):
"I played ten rounds of golf in six days, and I practiced every day from six in the morning till six in the evening, so, I played a lot of golf."
Prior to the start of the Olympic event, Charley Hull had also talked about how the Olympic ban on smoking on the course might affect her. However, she insisted that it did not affect her performance in the first round.
Hull withdrew from the Aramco Team Series London in early July due to a shoulder injury, which also affected her performance in the Amundi Evian Championship (she played but didn't make the cut).
A look at Charley Hull's performance at the Paris Olympics
Charley Hull started the first round of the Paris 2024 Olympic Golf Tournament with a double bogey on the first hole. She seemed to bounce back from there as she made par on the next four holes but this improvement was seemingly short-lived.
Hull bogeyed the 6th, 7th and 9th to finish the front nine at 5 over. Her performance followed the same trend on the back nine where she made four bogeys (10, 11, 13 and 17) with no birdies to leave her at 9 over.
Hull had no serious problems off the tee, hitting 9 of 14 fairways (64.29%), but was the worst player of the round around the green, reaching only 9 of 18 greens in regulation (50%). As a result, she lost 2,864 strokes in this area of the game.
Hull's putting numbers were also the worst of any player in the field during the first round as she used 2.22 putts per green in regulation and lost 3,829 strokes in this area.
The 2024 Paris Olympics is Hull's second Olympic experience, having competed at the Rio Games in 2016. She tied for seventh place at the event with a score of 8-under.