ST ANDREWS, Scotland — Georgia Hall loves the Old Course more than home. Her fondness for the venue is so profound that buying a property in the town is a case of when, not if.
Keep striking the driver as she did on the par-4 ninth hole to sign-off with an eagle — an exceptionally rare feat on a blustery Thursday at St. Andrews — come Monday the 2018 Women’s Open champion could be putting down a deposit.
“Three-hundred and 27 yards, or something,” says Hall, in typically understated fashion, when recalling the exact yardage on her final tee shot which elevated a solid opening round into one that has her in prime position heading into Friday. She was tied for fourth at 1-under-par among the morning wave during the first round.
“I did pull out a 5-iron and was going to lay up short of the bunkers but I thought I might not be able to reach this green. I hit a perfect drive to 20 feet and holed it.
“To be fair, I was happy signing my scorecard for one over on the last hole. So to manage to get an eagle there is definitely a bonus.”
What a way to finish.
An eagle on the last from Georgia Hall gives her a solid start of 71. pic.twitter.com/8kQunzFwj8
— AIG Women’s Open (@AIGWomensOpen) August 22, 2024
It was one of the shots of that day and puts Hall three back on leader Ruoning Yin, who shot a 4-under par 68.
Yin, the winner of last year’s PGA Championship, threatened to open up a significant lead when she shot three consecutive birdies on Nos. 3, 4 and 5, but she dropped two shots in her final three holes.
Teeing off in the morning’s fifth group alongside Ayaka Furue and Rose Zhang, Hall’s demeanour was that of a player prepared for a brutal battle with the elements.
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She had seen the five groups in front of her suffer early at the exposed greens on 11, 12 and 13, with winds touching close to 40mph. Starting off at the 10th, Hall pulled her drive left but recovered with a terrific 3-iron she struck 184 yards and converted for birdie. She was one of only 10 players to birdie what is a heavily undulated green.
The round was a grind — Hall’s group soon having to queue as earlier groups deliberated over which line could keep them in play. Perhaps a shock to the system for some with 30 of the world’s top 50 having never played a competitive round at the Old Course.
But Hall craves these conditions. She sees it as the competitive edge British players have over the rest of the field. It is that appreciation of links golf that helped Hall achieve the pinnacle by winning the Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes six years ago.
Having only played at St Andrews in 2013 as an amateur and another four holes in 2022, alongside Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as part of a Celebration of Champions event, repeating the feat at the home of golf is the one thing that would top her major win.
This major has brought out the best in her. In 2021 she tied for second, while the last two years she has finished inside the top 30.
It looked like the wheels could fall off her round after a double bogey on 17 but adopting a stubborn, survival mindset sees her revel in attritional golf as others grow frustrated.
“Definitely some of the toughest conditions I’ve ever played in for sure,” said Hall.
“Just thankful it wasn’t raining. You couldn’t even read the greens because you had to think about where the wind was actually going. It’s up there with the windiest I’ve ever played in.
“It was a struggle. Mentally such a battle (but) I was very glad we didn’t stop play. I love those conditions, whether I play badly or not. This is a true Women’s Open like this, and I believe that’s how it should be every day.”
The R&A simply wanted to get through Thursday. Outgoing chief executive Martin Slumbers confirmed that they had raised the height of cut on the greens, applied water to slow them down and placed the pins in locations that gave the players a chance of scoring despite the conditions.
Georgia Hall double-bogeyed the Road Hole at the Old Course but bounced back to finish 1-under. (Luke Walker / Getty Images)
Hall’s fade with the driver served her well on the back nine, starting the ball well out of bounds and using the wind to find the fairway. She only found the bunker once on 13 but escaped well and used her knowledge of the course to keep out of danger.
To be within a few shots of the lead going into the second day of a major is a feeling Hall has missed for some time.
Her last LPGA win came in September 2020. The closest she has come since was in last year’s Drive On Championship, which she lost to Celine Boutier in a playoff, and June’s fifth-place finish at the Dow Championship is her only top-10 finish in the last year.
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She has finished in the top 20 in four of her last five tournaments, however, and believes she has timed her run for the Open well.
“If you look at my last 10 years, I normally come into form around June, July time,” she said.
“I’m normally quite a late starter but obviously (the) first half of the year was probably some of the worst performance of golf that I’ve had.
“But my golf actually wasn’t bad. Mentally I was just struggling a little bit but the past couple months my results have been pretty good — consistent. I was pretty confident coming into this event.
“I don’t think anyone can win a golf tournament unless they are mentally happy and in a good place on and off the golf course. As golfers, we spend our life being a golfer and having everyone look at us, but we don’t have a lot of time to focus on ourselves off the course.
“I’ve come to kind of recognise who I am off the golf course, not just Georgia Hall the golfer. That’s been good for me.”
Hall may have found tranquility within her own head but over the next three days she will have to nullify the maelstrom that St Andrews has in store if she is to become a two-time Open champion, this time at her spiritual home.
(Top photo: Luke Walker / Getty Images)
