Hull & Woad provide hope for home Women's Open win

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Charley Hull has nine professional wins but is yet to land a major title By Iain Carter Golf correspondent Published 5 minutes ago Charley Hull began the week of the final golf major of the year by convincing her caddie Adam Woodward he had won a lottery prize worth £100,000. Unfortunately for Woodward, Hull had bought the ticket in a Blackpool joke shop. The only way he can really hit the jackpot is if his boss breaks her major duck at this week's AIG Women's Open. "He was like, 'I've never won one of these things, but today could be my lucky day','" Hull told BBC Sport. "And he was scratching it, scratching it, scratching it, and then his face dropped. "'Oh my god,' he said. 'I've won 100 grand. I've won 100 grand.' He takes his hat off. He takes his glasses off. He's got sweat dripping down, he's shaking, he's so excited." Hull then broke the bad news. "I think he nearly quit the job then," the 30-year-old said. "I felt really bad." Korda & Hull seek major glory - Women's Open tee times Published 2 hours ago Korda pips Hull to win maiden US Women's Open Published 8 June Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Hull showed media a video of her caddie Woodward when telling the story of how she pranked him The week clearly began on a lighter note for the Kettering pro, but she is deadly serious about the challenge ahead. Were Hull to go one better than her five major runners-up finishes, she would continue a remarkable storyline of British success in this event when staged here at Royal Lytham and St Annes. Scotland's Catriona Matthew was champion in 2009 and nine years later England's Georgia Hall triumphed over the famed Lancashire links. Hull and world number five Lottie Woad are among the favourites for this, the last of the year's five majors. Unlike Blackpool's lottery tickets, the hope of maintaining Lytham's habit of identifying UK champions is real. "Frustrating, very frustrating," Hull says of her major career to date. "I feel like people can add a bit of pressure on you sometimes as well because I am human at the end of the day." World number one Nelly Korda held off Hull's charge at June's US Open for what proved yet another near-miss in the tournaments that matter most. Although she ultimately came up short at Riviera, the British star did hole putts on the closing holes that might have been enough for victory. They showed she has what it takes to win a major. "If you look at the putt on 17 I had to hole and then on 18," she recalled. "And on that 18th hole, I hit a lovely, lovely, shot into the green. It was a pitching wedge that went over 175 yards. "It was such a good shot in, and then the chip, and then I holed the putt, so I have got grit. It was just Nelly played well that week." A year ago Hull shot a three-under-par final round at Royal Porthcawl to finish in a share of second place, two shots behind Miyu Yamshita. The pain of that defeat became acute this week when Hull saw the pos