Hull and Woad chase home Women's Open glory at Lytham
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- Charley Hull opened her week by pranking caddie Adam Woodward with a fake £100,000 lottery ticket bought from a Blackpool joke shop, then watched his reaction before revealing the joke
- Hull arrives at Royal Lytham with five major runner-up finishes, most recently a share of second behind world number one Nelly Korda at the June US Open at Riviera Country Club
- Lottie Woad, ranked fifth in the world at age 22 with two professional wins, plays the event for only the third time after top-10 finishes in her two prior appearances
- Scotland's Catriona Matthew (2009) and England's Georgia Hall (2018) are the previous UK winners at Lytham, with Hall lifting the trophy at age 22 — Woad's current age
- Woad lost a play-off to Miyu Yamashita at June's Meijer LPGA Classic after missing a short putt on the final green, and held the halfway lead at the Evian Championship earlier this month
- Hull finished tied for second at last year's AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl, two shots behind Yamashita, and admitted the rest of her 2025 season has been a 'mixed bag' with injury niggles
Why it matters: Hull has finished runner-up in five majors, including a narrow loss to Korda in June, so a breakthrough at Lytham would validate years of near-misses for the 30-year-old and continue the venue's recent habit of crowning UK champions. Woad's rise to world number five at 22, combined with her Evian halfway lead, signals Britain's next major contender is already arriving.
