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SOLHEIM CUPSeptember 11, 2019Charley HullGeorgia HallGleneagles, Scotland, United Kingdom THE MODERATOR: I'm delighted to have two stars of the European team with me, Charley Hull and Georgia Hall. Charley is making her fourth consecutive appearance in the Solheim Cup, has played 11 matches and has seven and a half points. Georgia is making her second appearance. Charley, you were a rookie back in 2013, the last time Europe won. What have you learned since then, and how has the Solheim Cup grown? CHARLEY HULL: Yes, I remember my first one was pretty big in Colorado. And I didn't really know what I was expecting so I didn't really feel as much pressure. But the more you get used to it you the more you understand how big it is. THE MODERATOR: Georgia, you were a rookie last time. How much have you learned and how do you think that experience will help you this time? GEORGIA HALL: Yeah, I mean obviously this is my first Solheim on home soil. And I've seen the first tee stand -- it's always much bigger than the last time I played. Just amazing memories from last time. We have a great team this year. THE MODERATOR: How has Gleneagles set up for you? How do you like the course? Heard you played really well in practice. CHARLEY HULL: I really like it. It's playing quite long. So I like that because I feel like I'm hitting my irons pretty good this week. You come in with a lot of long irons I'm coming in with some rescues and stuff. So it's playing pretty long. THE MODERATOR: Georgia, are you enjoying playing the course again? You were here for the European Team Championships. GEORGIA HALL: It's an amazing venue. I'm not sure how they'll set the course; it's actually pretty long. It's playing very wet. Even coming in with woods into par-4s, it's quite different play for us, but exciting. But the greens are rolling pretty quick actually and not too wet so that's good. THE MODERATOR: Been a busy time, Charley, can you tell us about your preparation coming here and how are you feeling? CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, I had like four busy weeks. I played Evian, British and Scottish and I played in Ireland. I decided to take three weeks off and rest up and just do a lot practice and sharpen my game. I felt I was playing quite steady over the last few weeks. I'm feeling really good for this week and really looking forward to it. I feel this year it's probably not as easy as a golf course as the last previous years, so probably not as many birdies, but then you have two drivable par-4s as well, so it all depends on the weather. THE MODERATOR: Georgia, what's your mindset going into the tournament? GEORGIA HALL: I'm pretty confident. We have a great team. We're all bonding really well, getting on really well. We have a mix of different players as well, a few rookies. And I think the course suits us. The weather, I'm not sure what that's going to be like. It's always fun playing in these conditions. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Georgia, how much do you feel that playing on Scottish soil can be an advantage for the European team to get you that victory this time? GEORGIA HALL: I don't think we're afraid of bad weather. So we're used to playing in the wind quite a lot. Like I said, it's quite wet. We'll have the home crowd which is massive especially on the first tee all cheering for Europe. And we have a Scottish captain. So we have the full package. Q. Danielle Kang was saying she doesn't know what to expect on the first tee. She's assuming they'll all be cheering for you, but she said she doesn't mind if she gets booed. What kind of reception do you think the Americans are going to get on the first tee? CHARLEY HULL: I think they're going to get a warm welcome, because I never really experienced booing before. I remember actually once in my first ever Solheim Cup in 2013. But I've never had booing. Everybody is pretty fair and especially over here -- home of golf, I feel everyone will be respectful. GEORGIA HALL: I don't think there will be any booing. Scottish people as well are very respectful. They'll treat the Americans with respect, like they deserve. And if someone hits a good shot I'm sure they'll cheer for them. Yeah, I think it will be fine. Q. You both just said that the course is playing long. Do you think that plays into your hands or do you think it plays into the American's hands? CHARLEY HULL: I don't know. I don't really feel like it plays into anyone's hands. Usually it will play into the American's hands. GEORGIA HALL: I don't think the Americans are particularly long. You've got Lexi, but I think the others are pretty average, I think. We've got Anne is very long. Suzann is pretty long, and Charley. We don't have many short hitters on our team. I think it's pretty fair. Q. Fair to say probably edges you guys a little bit? CHARLEY HULL: I think it's pretty even, to be fair. I'd say it's pretty even. Q. Can you both talk about Bronte and what her personality is like and how it translates to team events like this and match play? CHARLEY HULL: I'll let you go ahead. GEORGIA HALL: Sorry, how does Bronte's personality -- Q. Translate to team events and match play? GEORGIA HALL: She's a very bubbly person, always laughing. It's always nice to have in the team room, always has something to joke about. And she's incredibly feisty; you saw when she won on the LPGA earlier this year, she was fist bumping all week. So I think this week especially you get double the amount. She's great to have on our team. CHARLEY HULL: And she's quite funny. We've known her, what, since junior golf. GEORGIA HALL: About 10, I think. CHARLEY HULL: She's always up for a good laugh. Q. Do you guys have any stories about her from when she was in junior golf, anything that sticks out where you're like, wow, she's a great player, a great, feisty player? GEORGIA HALL: She's very feisty mentally and also, like, she does like to walk some putts in. She might be doing that a lot this week. That's always nice. Q. Georgia, I know the weather's not been great this week, but does it not feel tropical compared to when you were here for the European Championships last summer? GEORGIA HALL: Yeah, when I was here last year it just rained constantly. So we haven't had that yet. But we have plenty of waterproofs and towels with us and I don't mind the bad weather. I think that will suit us anyway. Q. How useful have you found that playing experience last year already this week? GEORGIA HALL: Obviously I know the course. I played it probably five, six times last year, so I know it quite well. The greens are a little bit quicker this week. The conditions, that's always nice. I kind of know where to place the ball -- it's quite a long golf course, like we said, and I think that's very important. Q. This golf course is widely known as a great match play venue. What do you all think makes it good for that style of competition? CHARLEY HULL: I don't really. It obviously will play different for the men because they hit it a lot further than us and the course is quite wet. I just think it's a great place to be. It's kind of American-style golf course, but then you look around you're in Scotland. So it's quite a fun golf course to play. And you can make some birdies because the greens are in such good condition. Like if you hit a good putt they're going to go in. And then you've got some holes where definitely, definitely birdie holes, like 11, 10, 9, around that little loop there's some birdie holes. And it's good because you gotta get off to a fast start because the start is quite tricky, isn't it. GEORGIA HALL: Yeah, it's quite important, the second into the par-5. And 18 is a very interesting hole. Hopefully we get to 18, but the green's very interesting. But I think you've got to put the ball -- very important to put that on the green in the right position. Q. Georgia, you said that they're rolling fast. Do you have any idea on the stimp what they would be? GEORGIA HALL: I think 10.5 -- 10, 10.5 at the moment. Q. Charley, Ozzie sort of finds golf quite peculiar, the fact that there's no peaks that you head towards. And this week's a bit more like what he's used to. Have you chatted with him about the business of head-to-head golf compared to MMA? CHARLEY HULL: I couldn't hear the last bit. Q. Have you and Ozzie chatted about how this week's more similar to the sort of sporting experiences he has? CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, kind of. Like it's more -- I would say this, it's more like a football match on the first tee -- the crowd and everything can -- you just gotta go out there with a strong mindset. If he was a golfer I think he would be good at match play. Q. Do you think it will actually be a much more rewarding experience for him watching it, that he'll see that head-to-head element? CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, I think he's only watched one match play tournament before, so I think it's good. I think for people who aren't golfers to come watch a match play event is a lot more interesting for them, I think. Q. You both played starring roles in your rookie appearance in the Solheim Cup. Does that make you extra wary of the six rookies on the American team this week and what they can achieve? And maybe they'll look to your performance as inspiration? GEORGIA HALL: Yeah, the U.S.A. have got a lot of rookies, a lot of them. But I think it all depends on the person, how well you do. And match play is very different to what we're used to playing. So I don't know. We treat every player the same, whether rookie or not. They deserve to be there. They played good golf to get on the team. So we'll just play the best golf we can. Q. Charley, as this week's got closer and next week gets closer, how has it been trying to juggle the two things? And does that take pressure off each of them having the other one, if you know what I mean? CHARLEY HULL: I just kind of left the wedding all to him to be fair. I said what I want. And hopefully -- I've just let him deal with it all. But yeah, it does, but I'm looking forward to this event for a long time because it's on home soil and I've never really played on it. I've played on Team Europe but not really in Great Britain. So I'm looking forward to it. And then I'm looking forward to next week as well. Q. Georgia, your captain, Catriona, has said that winning this week would mean more to her than winning the British Open. Does that inspire you as an Open champion of how much this means to her? GEORGIA HALL: Wow, it must mean the most that she wants anything in life, then. No, I mean, she's an incredible captain. It's been incredible so far. And as players we're going to do the best for ourselves, and especially her. Being at home I think is very special, to be in Scotland. So, I mean, we'll do our best. But I think we're very confident. I think we've got one of the best teams we've had in a long time. Q. Georgia, you're bidding to stop a United States hat trick. Where would halting that hat trick and winning the Solheim Cup rank in your career, compared to your Open victory? GEORGIA HALL: Definitely just behind the British. The Solheim is very, very important to me. I had one of the best weeks of my career, my rookie appearance. So stopping Juli get the three out of three is very important for us especially. Q. Just wonder if both of you could give us some words to describe what the relationship is like within the team behind the scenes, whether it's intense, whether it's full on, whether it's relaxed? How does that feel at the moment? CHARLEY HULL: I think it's quite relaxed, to be fair. We all get on. There's no one in -- GEORGIA HALL: Yeah, no one left out; we're all like a little family, really. Like when it's time, like, to go to bed, we don't all rush and go to bed. We all, like, chat and laugh, have a good time. And we've got some really great personalities on the team. So it's good fun. CHARLEY HULL: It's nice. It's good. Q. Charley, you won in Abu Dhabi in January, and Georgia's only top 10 this season came in January. But perhaps not the best form you've been in since. Are there any concerns with your form heading into this week, or does the special Solheim Cup atmosphere mean that that kind of thing goes out the window? GEORGIA HALL: Yeah, I mean you can't have a fantastic year every year. But I've played a lot of consistent golf maybe the past two or three months. I thought I'd done pretty good at the British and Evian and Scottish. So I had a week off last week, practiced quite a lot. And Solheim is completely different to every other event and it's much more mental. And I think people's games, and you see shots you've never seen hit before in Solheim Cups. Q. Charley, have you had a hen party? CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, I had one at the weekend. Q. The weekend just gone? CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, just at my house, just a tea party because I didn't fancy going nowhere because I'm not really into partying anymore. (Laughter). THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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