AIG Women’s Open preview: Charley Hull aims to avoid being bunkered at Royal Lytham & St Annes

Charley Hull believes avoiding the bunkers will be crucial for those players chasing AIG Women’s Open victory at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Hull arrives on the Fylde coast, looking to go one better after five second-placed finishes in major championships: the 2023 and 2025 Women’s Open, the 2023 and 2026 US Women’s Open and the then 2016 Ana Inspiration: now the Chevron Championship.

Speaking in April, Catriona Matthew - who won the tournament at RL&SA in 2009 - said avoiding the sand was key: a theme Hull echoed when asked about the challenge facing golfers this year.

She said: “Obviously if you're in the bunker it’s a penalty area, especially with the tee shots, so you (have) just got to pick out your lines and trust them or play smart and just lay up a bit short of them.

“It is a very, very good golf course and compared to last week, this is more of a traditional links so if it does get windy and bouncy you can then run it in.”

‘Last week’ was a reference to the Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald, where Hull made unwanted headlines after a quadruple bogey nine in her opening round.

Having had a birdie putt, a difficult pin placement saw her ball run off the green before finding more problems when trying to chip the ball back.

Asked how she processed that a few days later, she responded: “The pin shouldn’t have been there.

“I texted the commissioner straight after the round. I was like, ‘the pin was about a yard from a massive slope and where it was on a downslope going towards a slope.’

“I’ve had a 12-foot putt for birdie and walk off with a nine. I had four chips up the slope, but I shouldn’t have putted off the green. (It) Just shows in fact that I’m human.

“It was very, very windy and the golf course last week was playing quite tricky, but I was happy to make the cut.

“Actually I hit the ball pretty good tee to green that week. It was just the putter was not behaving.”