Charley Hull Falls Short Again; LPGA Rookie Makes History at AIG Women’s Open

Charley Hull charged hard during the final two rounds of the AIG Women’s Open, but it wasn’t enough to move her out of second place. The Englishwoman finished tied for second, two strokes behind the winner, Miyu Yamashita.

Hull carded five birdies without bogeys over the first 14 holes of the fourth round, but made consecutive bogeys on the 16th and 17th to seal her fate in the tournament. The strokes lost on those two holes were exactly what she would have needed to force a playoff with Yamashita.

This is the fourth time Hull has finished runner-up in a major championship, most recently at the 2023 AIG Women’s Open. No other player has finished second more times without winning a major title.

“Coming into this week, I didn’t think I was going to make the cut,” Hull told reporters after her fourth-round performance. “That’s truthful of it. I wasn’t hitting it very well. I couldn’t prepare as well as I wanted to because I was poorly — I was obviously collapsed three times in the round in Evian, and then still wasn’t feeling well until Sunday last week. So I think I’ve done pretty well, and considering my mindset coming into it, I’m pretty proud of myself.”

Yamashita, who is playing her rookie season on the LPGA Tour, took the lead after a second-round 65 (she carded a first-round 68). A day later, she managed to hold on to the lead despite carding a 74, before closing out with a full-speed 70 on Sunday.

This is Yamashita’s first win on the LPGA Tour, although she is by no means an unknown. The 24-year-old won 13 tournaments on Japan’s professional tour between 2021 and 2024 before earning her tour card with medalist honors at Q-School last December.

With her AIG Women’s Open title, Yamashita joins an exclusive list of just six players to have won a major championship in their rookie year on the LPGA Tour. The other members of this list are Nancy Lopez, Juli Inkster, Se Ri Pak, Park Sung-hyun, and Yuka Saso.

She is also the third Japanese player ever to win the AIG Women’s Open.

Paula Martin Sanpedro of Spain, star of the Stanford University women’s team, won the low amateur honors by finishing tied for eight with a score of 4-under.

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