From walking on crutches because of a devastating ankle injury last September to grabbing her fifth Ladies European Tour title and a career-high world ranking this February, Charley Hull has shown how tough she is. Still recovering from the injury, she will now defend at Maketewah this week. When asked how she was feeling coming into the tournament, she did not hold back.

“I know I tore the ligament in my ankle and snapped it, but then it affected my back and everything as well,” the golfer said. “It wasn’t just that. It was kind of like a snowball effect, so it was quite annoying.” She also admitted that dropping temperatures were making her swing harder to manage.

The ankle injury started as a freak accident. During the PIF London Championship in early September 2025, Hull fell over a curb in a parking lot after practice, heard a loud pop, and feared she had broken her ankle. An MRI confirmed a torn ligament. Doctors advised nine weeks of complete rest. She was back in three, teeing it up at the same Queen City Championship, where she eventually won her first LPGA Tour victory of the 2025 season.

That win came while she was still hurting. Hull openly said it was “only her second week on the trot” since returning. Yet she shot rounds of 68 and 65 to sit tied for second after two rounds, just two shots behind leader Chanettee Wannasaen, before eventually winning the event.

The ankle did not exist in isolation. In July 2025, Hull had torn back muscles while lifting a heavy box ahead of the Amundi Evian Championship, leading to cysts in her spine confirmed by MRI, which also caused spinal scoliosis. At that same Evian Championship, Hull collapsed on the course mid-round, unconscious for just over a minute. Her blood pressure had dropped to 80/50 and her blood sugar had fallen to 0.4, dangerously low by any measure. She had been battling a severe virus all week. When she came around, her first instinct was to get back up and finish the round.

Through all of it, what Hull missed most was running. She had been chasing a sub-20-minute 5K for most of 2025, dropping her time from 26 minutes to 23, sometimes pushing so hard that blood seeped through her socks mid-run. The four-month running ban that followed the ankle tear was its own setback. “Usually, I love doing runs. Was trying to break sub-20 in my 5k and nearly there, then I tore my ankle,” she said.

The physical cost has shown up in her 2026 numbers. Speaking on the Par 3 Podcast in 2026, Hull was direct. “I feel like in the last month I’ve lost a bit of distance, but that’s because I’m battling my ankle injury and my back injury. It’s very hard because I can’t get in the gym and do what I used to do, a lot of box jumps and stuff, and I’m not ready to do that yet.” She sits 104th in driving distance on the LPGA Tour this season at 262.5 yards, down from 12th in 2025 at 273.21 yards, a loss of ten yards.

By January 2026, she had finally started running again. The rehab paid off enough to win the PIF Saudi Ladies International in February 2026 and climb to a career-high world ranking of No. 3. When asked how she handled everything, her answer said it all:

“You just got to deal with it really. It’s just part of life. I’m still living life, living a good life. It’s just a little bump in the road, innit?”

Hull knows Maketewah well. Defending here means handling a unique test.

Charley Hull’s mindset as she defends her title

Hull is coming to Maketewah on the back of the Women’s British Open runner-up, a torn ankle, a second place at Aramco Houston, and a strong mindset. Shy kids don’t get sweets, and Hull has never been shy.

That phrase is not a catchphrase. She said it herself: “You don’t ask, you don’t get, and if you don’t go for it, you’re not going to get it.” She applies it every single day, not just on the golf course. For a player managing two active injuries while defending a title, that is not motivational language; that is just how she operates.

Her expectations for the week are deliberately simple. She wants to defend, but won’t be obsessed with it. Just go out and enjoy herself. That kind of relaxed clarity is harder to manufacture than it sounds, especially when your caddie is already blowing going up the hills during practice rounds at what Hull herself called the hilliest flat golf course in the world.

Maketewah plays softer and tighter than TPC River’s Bend did in September, and Hull knows the courses share a feel but demand different things. She has already done the hard part, tested the ankle at Aramco, found some form, and shown up. Now the question is, can she, in her current condition, do it again?