England’s Charley Hull has the chance to become the youngest ever winner of the Ladies European Tour’s order of merit after her runner-up finish in Sanya, China, last week.
The 18-year-old from Kettering needs two second place finishes, at this week’s Xiamen Open and next month’s Omega Dubai Ladies Masters, or a win in Dubai, to overtake Suzann Pettersen, who is €72,501 ahead on the ranking.
The 2008 order of merit winner Gwladys Nocera from France also has a mathematical chance if she can win all of the remaining three LET tournaments including the Hero Women’s Indian Open.
“I’m not thinking about the order of merit, I just play golf,” Hull said, in Xiamen. “My current ranking will get me into the majors next year, so I’d just like to play well.”
In her second season as a professional, Hull earned her first victory at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco and of her seven additional top 10 finishes, she has finished second in China and Germany. She also made several cuts on the US LPGA, with a season best tie for seventh at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Ahead of her trip to the US LPGA final qualifying school in two weeks, Hull said: “If I get my LPGA Tour card, I will not move to the USA as I still want to enjoy my life at home but it will allow me to pick and choose which tournaments I play in.”
This week’s Xiamen Open at Orient Golf and Country Club gets under way over three rounds from Friday and Hull added: “The golf course looks fantastic so I’m going to go out and have fun this week and see what I can do. I had a good week last week and came second so hopefully this week I can go one better.”
