CROMVOIRT, Netherlands – The Solheim Cup doesn’t start for three more days and already there has been a, well, misunderstanding involving one of Europe’s top players.
Shortly before 1 p.m. local time at Bernardus Golf, site of this week’s matches, Sky Sports posted a video clip of Charley Hull teeing off the first tee by herself. The commentators in the video explained that Hull was late for her practice starting time and her teammates had already teed off. As Hull hit and walked off the tee box with vice captain Mel Reid, Hull turned around and began talking to a group of people who were off camera, during which Hull could be heard saying, “We had drinks last night.”
That quote was used in the YouTube headline – ‘We had drinks last night!’ Charley Hull reveals the reason for her late arrival to the first tee – and understandably interpreted by social-media users as Hull was late because she had been drinking.
But Reid chimed in to correct what she called a “completely false story.”
“Charley Hull was the first one to bed last night at 8 o’clock and first one on the bus this morning,” said Reid during Tuesday’s captains’ presser. “She doesn’t even drink, so that’s a completely false story; it’s been misquoted. She was late to the tee because I was responsible for her, so I’ll take a little bit of responsibility to that. But she just thought her tee time was a little bit later, and trying to drag Charley Hull off a driving range is a feat in any tournament, especially a Solheim…
“I just want to shut this down before other people start talking about it. But she was literally late because, one, I couldn’t drag her off the driving range, and, two, she thought her tee time was 5 minutes later than it was.”
In a separate video posted by Reid, the vice captain is filming she and Hull walking on the course before she says, “My one responsibility is to get this absolute numpty on the tee on time. How did I do this morning?”
Hull responds, “You failed extremely.”
Reid: “She was late on the tee this morning, so not great, Charles, is it?”
European captain Anna Nordqvist explained that she was on the first tee, which is the regular third tee as the course has been rerouted for this event, and told the other three players in the group to go ahead since the tee is a 10-minute shuttle ride from the range.
Nordqvist added that Hull did not arrive in Netherlands until Monday night, a day after her teammates, deciding instead to prepare an extra day at home in England.
This is Hull’s eighth Solheim appearance. She’s gone 15–9–3 in seven previous events while being on three winning teams and the 2023 squad that retained the cup.
“I’ve been part of basically every single team that Charley’s been on, and I will say it’s been really nice to see how much Charley is starting to embrace the whole Solheim atmosphere,” Nordqvist said. “I’ve had multiple conversations with her and it just nice to see how excited she is.”
