
Imago
HSBC Women s World Championship, WM, Weltmeisterschaft 2025 Charley Hull of England is in action during round one of the HSBC Women s World Championship 2025 at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore, on February 27, 2025. Singapore Singapore PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRA Copyright: xSuhaimixAbdullahx originalFilename:abdullah-notitle250227_npJpn.jpg

Imago
HSBC Women s World Championship, WM, Weltmeisterschaft 2025 Charley Hull of England is in action during round one of the HSBC Women s World Championship 2025 at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore, on February 27, 2025. Singapore Singapore PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRA Copyright: xSuhaimixAbdullahx originalFilename:abdullah-notitle250227_npJpn.jpg
For a while, it seemed like the AIG Women’s Open was in danger. Rain overnight and in the early morning raised concerns, but the weather cleared well before Friday’s second round. Meanwhile, Charley Hull had other concerns, as she revealed she managed just three hours of sleep before the round. Naturally, a reporter pressed her about her level of functionality during Friday’s press conference.
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“No, [three hours of sleep is not normal],” she said. “I slept 12 hours the night before, but I felt like late finish and it takes me a while to wind down. [I] had a lot of adrenaline going for me. You know when you know you got to be up early, you’re like, I want to go to sleep, and then you can’t sleep because you’re thinking about going to sleep.”
When asked whether she can function on so little sleep, Hull opened up about her unusual sleeping routine, admitting it sometimes ends with her crashing out.
“Yeah, to be fair, I’m quite weird,” she said. ”I can sleep for 16 hours straight. I’ve slept for 20 hours before. I can manage on two hours [of] sleep, but I’ll come crashing down. I think I had a 12-hour nap the day before, so I felt good out there.”
Even though Charley Hull appears confident that the lack of sleep didn’t affect her, sleep deprivation can have a significant impact on athletic performance. It can reduce reaction times, lower endurance, and impair muscle recovery. For someone still chasing her first major title, getting adequate rest during a major championship becomes a priority.
But for Hull, she had teed off on Thursday at 1:26 p.m. local time and wrapped things up in the evening. And then she had to be back out early Friday morning for her second round.
That said, after opening with a 2-under 69, Hull’s performance dipped slightly in the second round as she carded an even-par 71, recording three birdies and three bogeys. Whether that decline was due to her lack of sleep remains unclear. However, if she wants to maintain her position near the top of the leaderboard and contend for the title, she’ll likely need a stronger showing on Moving Day.
Then again, losing sleep between rounds during a tournament is far from uncommon. According to an April 2016 report from the HuffPost, former World No. 1 Jason Day admitted that whenever he’s in contention, he struggles to switch off. “Usually, if I’m in contention at the tournament, I don’t sleep at all,” he said.
He further explained that after emotionally draining Sundays, his mind keeps replaying the round, making it nearly impossible to rest before traveling to the next event. Even Dr. Cary Middlecoff, who won two U.S. Opens, the Masters Tournament, and 40 professional events, admitted that he often couldn’t sleep on Saturday nights before the final round of big tournaments.
He would lie awake, tossing and turning, growing increasingly anxious because he knew he wasn’t sleeping. Eventually, however, he changed his mindset. Instead of forcing himself to fall asleep, he accepted that sleep might not come. His goal became simply to lie still and rest “like an Egyptian mummy,” as he put it.
Hopefully, Hull gets the sleep she needs before Moving Day.
That said, part of what kept her mind racing may have had nothing to do with golf at all, since Hull spent the build-up to the tournament fielding backlash after tricking her caddie, Adam Woodward, into believing he’d won £100,000 on a scratchcard bought from a joke shop in Blackpool, filming his reaction and posting it publicly.
The stunt, dubbed “prankgate” by British outlets, drew enough criticism that Hull was still addressing it after her round, telling critics to “lighten up”.
Written by
Edited by

Shreya Singh

