This Olympic golf course is non-smoking. Did he hurt his chances?

Earlier this year, English golfer Charley Hull was overlooked for his ability to relate.

Hull’s moment of Internet fame came in late May, when the company shared photos of her signing at the US Women’s Open with a half-smoked cigarette wedged between her lips. The idea of ​​a professional golfer casually pulling an arrow during one of the biggest tournaments of the year proved irresistible to many golfers and beyond, as evidenced not only by the millions of views the video has garnered on Instagram and X. and with the widespread media coverage of the clip. He cried a GQ headline, “Charley Hull Cig-Blasted Her Way Through the US Open.”

What was hidden by all the news about Hull being one of us, however, was that he played well that week in Lancaster, Pa. this season. A month after the US Open, Hull, 28, tied for 16th in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at the tree-lined Sahalee, just east of Seattle. A week later, he teamed up with one of his best friends and fellow Brit, Georgia Hall, at the Dow Championship, an LPGA club event in Michigan. (This was just days after Hall and Hull were confirmed as members of the team to represent Great Britain at the Paris Olympics.) The good vibes of the friends translated into good scores, with the Brits tied for fifth. Hull was rolling.

And then … he stumbled.

Literally.

Hull’s next scheduled start after Dow was the Aramco Series event back home in England the following week. However, a few hours before he hopped on a plane to London, he slipped out of the shower and thought something had ripped through his right shoulder. Hull tried to play through the pain at Aramco, but after just six holes, he withdrew. An MRI showed no evidence of a tear, but he had arthritis in the shoulder joint. A week later, Hull played in the LPGA’s fourth major of the year, the Evian Championship in France. After the first two seesaw rounds (79-69), he missed the sixth cut. Needing to rest, Hull took a 10-day trip and then began training again for what would be his second appearance at the Olympic Games.

At Tuesday’s pre-tournament press conference in Paris, Hull was not asked about his shoulder. But the reporter asked about Hull’s outburst to celebrities on social media and whether he was comfortable with being “famous” for his smoking.

“I haven’t been on Instagram in about four or five months,” Hull said. “I let my agent do it. I just focus on my golf and just hang out with Georgia off the golf course.”

Here’s how another exchange went:

Do you smoke in class?

Yes, I smoke in class. It’s a habit, but I won’t do it this week. Yes, it’s just something I do.

Why not do it this week?

I don’t think you are allowed.

Is that so?

Yes.

Will that affect you? Does it help you?

Yes, I think it will happen. Because it relaxes me a little. But it is.

Hull was right about the smoking ban. According to the official 2024 Olympics Spectator Information Guide, smoking is prohibited in Olympic venues – including Le Golf National – except in designated smoking areas. (Surely Hull’s list of Olympians could be briefly affected by the rule, but it’s not at all. Just ask Shoko Miyata, Japan’s top female gymnast and team captain, who was kicked off the Japanese team last month for allegedly smoking underage, which she said was a violation of the federation’s code of conduct.)

The most interesting question Hull answered, however, was whether his inability to inflate would affect his game, as he predicted it would. Hull didn’t start smoking because he felt it might give him any kind of competition. She said at the US Women’s Open that she started the habit last year to help her kick another crime: vaping. “Although smoking is not better than vaping, you can vape indoors all the time,” he said. “I thought that if I smoke, I will go out and smoke a cigarette.” Soon enough, lighting became part of Hull’s on-course routine.

Not just this week in Paris, where Hull’s pursuit of gold began at 9:44 am local time on Wednesday with Australian Hannah Green and American star Rose Zhang.

If Hull was hoping to ease into his round, he was on the wrong golf course. Congested and lined with water, Le Golf National exposes the ball’s perfect shower in brutal fashion. As Viktor Hovland said last week, “If you struggle, it will kick you.

Hull’s wake-up call came with his first swing, a tee shot that caught a lake left of the 1st fairway, leading to a double-bogey 6. He settled for pars on the next four holes but then bogeyed 6, 7 and 9 to convert to 41. . Four more bogeys followed at 10, 11, 13 and 17 after a nine-par 40 and an opening nine-over 81 that left him third in the 60-player field. Hull was shaking all over his bag, but, in terms of strokes gained, nothing cost him more than his short game and putting; in both categories he is ranked last in this field.

“I feel rusty,” he said afterward, adding that he often left himself in a bad mood. “I’m looking forward to shooting 9 tomorrow.”

Regarding the lack of nicotine? Was it as scary as he thought?

“No, it’s not,” said Hull. “It’s because I’m injured. I don’t think a lot of people realize that I’m out of the Aramco team, and I took, like, 10 days off golf and had an MRI and everything. I think it’s 100 percent why. Not because of smoking.”

He said he is used to struggling in courses without trees, due to the lack of target scores.

Whatever the cause of Hull’s poor form, he said his highest emotion coming out of the course was frustration. “I wish I hadn’t showered before I left now,” she said. “It really pissed me off.”

But he also hopes that as he becomes more familiar with the course, he will show improvement on Thursday.

“This year, I felt like I had a really good, consistent season, top 20 finishes, a few top ten finishes and I was very focused,” he said. “When I was injured, it lowered your confidence—not how I was swinging, but mentally. But I feel like with a few rounds under my belt, I’ll be back. “

Alan Bastable

Golf.com Editor

As editor-in-chief of GOLF.com, Bastable is responsible for the editorial direction and voice of one of the game’s most respected and heavily trafficked news and services outlets. He wears many hats – planning, writing, imagining, developing, dreaming up one day he breaks 80 – and feels privileged to work with an insanely smart and hard-working team of writers, editors and producers. Before taking over GOLF.com, he was the features editor at GOLF Magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children.