England’s rising star came through like a champ Sunday in Naples.
Charley Hull, the personable 20-year-old, out-dueled major champion So Yeon Ryu and captured her first LPGA Tour win and it was a biggie.
Hull, who shot 66-66 over the weekend at Tiburon Golf Club without a bogey, won the CME World Tour Championship with a birdie at the 17th hole that propelled her to victory.
Hull showed nothing but calm in the face of pressure all day, playing with Ryu, the 2011 U.S. Open champion. Ryu holed a short birdie putt at the par three 17th to get to 17-under par and tie Hull with two holes to play.
It was at the par five 17th where the tournament was won and lost. Hull used her superior length and was just over the green in two while Ryu’s second left her stymied against a steep bunker wall short of the green and forced her to blast out sideways. She would end up with bogey while Hull got up-and-down for birdie to get to 18-under and spot herself a two-shot lead going into 18.
There would be no fireworks from Ryu at 18 and an easy par by Hull gave her that first victory.
Hull admitted that she was not nervous over the final 18.
“Yeah, I’m pretty calm. I didn’t think about leading the golf tournament. Just play.”
Hull got off to a great start with three front nine birdies. Ryu was the only player keeping pace and by the 15th hole, the two had pulled away from the rest of the field.
In the tournament within the tournament, Ariya Jutanugarn shot 68 and finished tied for fourth, good enough for her to win Player Of The Year and the CME Globe points race as well as the money winnings title.
A bad front nine by Lydia Ko knocked her out of the running as she turned in 39. She came back well enough to shoot an even par 72 but lost the battle for lowest scoring average this season when In Gee Chun birdied the 72nd hole to edge Ko for that honor.
