Charley Hull doesn’t tiptoe around anything. If something needs to be said, she’ll say it without giving a single thought. “You don’t know what’s coming out of my mouth next, I don’t know what’s coming out of my mouth next,” that sums her up, as she put it in the 2024 Women’s US Open Championship. So, it’s no surprise that the LPGA Tour is filled with stories of her dry and bizarre humor.
One such person, who has a running archive of all the ‘Charley Hull Stories’, is Mel Reid. The two have shared Solheim Cup locker rooms for years, and Reid never misses a chance to tell a good one. Just recently, she’s dropped a new anecdote. A moment that still echoes through Team Europe’s lore.
In a conversation with Kira Dixon on their podcast Quiet Please! With Mel and Kira, Reid recalls the 2017 Solheim Cup in Des Moines. The team was captained by Swedish pro Annika Sorenstam. “…For anyone who knows Annika, she’s quite straight-faced, very professional, very businessy. Nothing wrong with that, but very businessy,” shares Reid.
So, it was Saturday, and the team was trailing heading into the Sunday singles. The US team’s strong four-ball performance had put them in a winning position for Sunday, with they needing just 3.5 points to clinch the victory. Undoubtedly, this called for a captain’s speech at the end of the day, to boost the shaky morale of the teammates.
Charley Hull just borrowed a lighter from a fan at the Solheim Cup pic.twitter.com/K0pbUoY0vQ
— Gabby Herzig (@GabbyHerzig) September 12, 2024
As Sorenstam began her address, Reid noticed Hull wasn’t in the room. “I noticed, because Charlie was standing next to me, that Charlie wasn’t there (she had gone to the bathroom)… So, I said, ‘Oh, Annika, just one second. I think Charlie’s in the bathroom. I’m sure she’ll be back in a minute.’“
Moments later, Hull came charging in, wearing her hot pants, which in Reid’s words were “the smallest shorts she’s ever seen“. Without missing a beat, Hull shouted across the room, “What’s up, Annika? I was having a sh*t, innit.“
“Of all people to say it to, it’s Annika f*cking Sörenstam!” Reid remembered, barely holding back laughter. Of course, the moment Hull said these words, the room erupted into laughter. “Oh, you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go, innit?” Hull doubled down. Though Team Europe lost with an overall score of 16.5 to 11.5, this moment was engraved in Europe’s LPGA history book.
This was classic Hull: unfiltered, hilarious, and completely out of step with golf’s usual polish. And there are plenty more like this, with Mel Reid again as one of the survivors.
When Charley Hull asked Mel Reid about her sperm
Charley Hull has never cared much for playing by the script. Remember when she was called Female Tiger Woods early on in her life, and she casually put off that comparison? That’s Hull—unpredictable at best. But sometimes this unpredictability extends far beyond the pace of play.
Mel Reid in an old episode of Quiet Please! recounted a run-in she had with Hull at this year’s US Open. “She asked me how my sperm was,” Reid laughed. “She means Kai. She just called him my sperm ’cause she’s still extremely confused how Carley got pregnant.” Reid is married to his wife Carly Grenfell, and they welcomed their son Kai in 2023, through reciprocal IVF.
In the same US Open, after finishing the 8th hole, Hull didn’t wait for Lexi Thompson to catch up. Instead, she casually wandered over to the 9th tee and plopped herself down on the grass. She took another jab at Thompson during the HSBC Women’s Open this year when someone asked Hull about her retirement. “I don’t think that’s about me surely. Lexi is retiring but not me. Definitely not me. I’ll play golf until I’m on my deathbed.”
So yeah, that’s Charley Hull for you. And honestly, her presence makes the LPGA circuit way more fun. Just don’t be surprised if she walks over asking for a lighter for her cigarettes.
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