Dubai: Teenage prodigy Charley Hull will hope to further improve her impressive CV when she returns to compete in the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters next month.
Held under the under patronage of Princess Haya Bint Al Hussain, Wife of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the tournament will be played at Emirates Golf Club from December 7 to 13.
Widely regarded as a player who will certainly rise to the top of the women’s game, Hull has already studded her career with a string of achievements, beginning with the English amateur championship she won at Turnberry when was she was just nine years old.
Hailed as a potential world champion by one of the elder stateswomen of world golf, Laura Davies, the 18-year-old from Kettering in Northamptonshire, England, took the world of golf by storm, winning the Ladies European Tour ‘Rookie of the Year’ title in 2013, highlighted by five runner-up finishes in her first five tournaments.
The youngest-ever player to feature in a Solheim Cup when she played in 2013, Hull further underlined her precocious talent when she won her first professional event — the 2014 Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco — well before her 18th birthday.
Ranked 30th in the world, Hull will be aiming to better the tied eighth finish she posted on her first visit to Dubai last year when she joins a star-laden field headed by veteran Davies, who is also a golf in DUBAi ambassador, and defending champion Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand.
“It would be cool to win in Dubai. I love this place. It’s a perfect place for golf I think. I am not going to think too much about the result,” said the home-schooled Hull, who was introduced to golf at age two by her father at Kettering Golf Club.
“My approach to the game is very simple: hit the shot, find it, hit it again. That’s what I always say, because it can lead to good results,” said Hull, who also finished in a tie for seventh at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and 12th at the Women’s British Open earlier this year.
“The [Majlis] course is amazing. You can’t relax, but you can hit your driver a little bit more around here. It’s good, and I really like the greens because they are very fast and firm,” she said.
Mohammad Juma Bu Amim, vice-chairman and CEO of golf in DUBAi, the promoters and organisers of the Dubai Ladies Masters, said of Hull: “Her rise through the ranks has been phenomenal. She is one of the most exciting young players on the circuit, one who has all the attributes to dominate women’s golf.
“I really admire the work ethic of young players, like Charley, who keep pushing seasoned pros to get better. It’s good for the game and good for the players. I am confident Charley will have tremendous fan following in Dubai and her presence will inspire emerging players, especially from our region, to take up sports.”
The Dubai Ladies Masters is backed by Omega as the title sponsor and Dubal as sponsor. The co-sponsors are CNN, Drydocks World & Maritime World, Emirates NBD, Gulf News, Jebel Ali Resorts and Hotels, Mercedes and Wasl, while Dubai Duty Free, Neocasa Interiors and Motivate Publishing are the patrons in golf in DUBAi’s drive to showcase the emirate’s golf scene to a worldwide audience.
