Women’s Open: Charley Hull and Lilia Vu book strong results in St. Andrews

Charley Hull and Lilia Vu played alongside Nelly Korda again on Friday and showed off to the crowd. Three of the most talented LPGA women battled the elements at St. Andrews and so far they are in the top 3 spots on the AIG Women’s Open leaderboard.

Hull posted a par of 72 and Vu climbed onto the scoreboard with a 2-under 70, putting them both on 5-under.

The Englishwoman had the support of the crowd at this tournament in her hometown. She fought her way back onto the scoreboard after a difficult start, bogeying her first hole, the par-4 10th. Hull lost another stroke on 14 and was 2-over at the turn.

The 28-year-old fell to 3-over on the day with another bogey on hole 2, her 11th. She then birdied three of her last seven holes to finish tied for the day.

Despite the score difference, Hull felt they played similarly to Thursday.

“I thought I did about as well as I did yesterday,” Hull said. “I missed three or four four-foot putts, but that was early in my round. I thought the greens were a little bit slower. My putts earlier in the round were a little bit wet on the green because it had rained earlier, and it was slippery, so that got into my head, but once I got over that, I got back into my swing and it felt fine.”

Rain fell at the start of the second lap but it didn’t last long. The wind picked up a bit but Hull didn’t adapt well to that on Friday.

As for Vu, she felt confident about her two days of golf, with her short game being one of the things that looked strong after 36 holes.

“I’m most pleased with how I’ve been putting the ball to the hole,” Vu said. “I’m giving myself a lot of birdie opportunities, and that’s what you need here. That’s the hardest part, trying to play with the wind, not against it, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

Vu made one birdie and one bogey on her front nine, and added two birdies on the 7th and 9th to close out the day. Picking up those two birdies in her last three holes seemed like a huge confidence boost for the world No. 2.

For Hull it was a great honour to play alongside the world number one and play well because it showed that her game was up to par.

Although she has yet to win a major championship, she knows that three strokes means nothing in the grand scheme of things, especially when there are 36 holes to go.

“That’s nothing to go into the weekend with, especially on this course,” Hull said. “I left a lot of putts there. I think Nelly had 30 putts and I had 36 putts. So that’s six putts I lost to her on the greens.”

“I feel like I’m doing just as well. She just holed a few more putts than me today. I think Lilia (Vu) is one to watch too because when it gets windy, she stays in it. She’s a good scrambler.”

The Kettering, England native was in a similar position at last year’s Open, but came up just short of Vu. She’s long overdue for her first major championship. She seems to have more confidence this year as she proves to herself that she can do it.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow us for more golf coverage @_SpelenDoor on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.