No, Charley Hull Wasn't Out Drinking Before Solheim Cup Practice. Here's Where the Story Came From.

The claim that Charley Hull was late to a Solheim Cup practice tee at Bernardus Golf on Tuesday because she'd been drinking is false. European vice-captain Mel Reid told reporters Hull is teetotal, was first to bed at eight o'clock on Monday night and first on the team bus on Tuesday morning, according to The Guardian's Ewan Murray, reporting from the Netherlands. Hull arrived at the first tee roughly two minutes after her group had driven off. Reid said she'd misread her tee time by five minutes and couldn't be pulled off the range.

VERDICT: FALSE. The “drinks” line existed. It came from Hull, as a joke, on camera. That origin is the part the aggregators dropped, and it's the second section.

Golf Raw was not at Bernardus and did not speak to Hull, Reid or Anna Nordqvist. Quotes come from The Guardian's reporting via AOL, Golfmagic's account of Sky Sports' practice-round coverage, and Sky Sports' August interview with Laura Davies. No team meetings or private communications were seen.

What actually happened on Tuesday

Two minutes. That's the delay at the centre of this.

Golfmagic's account of Sky Sports' broadcast has former Ladies European Tour player Sophie Walker explaining on air that Hull was on the tee box alone because her group had teed off two minutes ahead of her. The Guardian confirms Hull drove off alone and caught her teammates, including Lottie Woad, up the fairway.

Anna Nordqvist, Europe's captain, was standing on the first tee at the time. Per The Guardian, she told the other three players to go, knowing Hull was on her way and that the walk out takes five or ten minutes anyway.

Nordqvist also explained why Hull hadn't been there earlier in the week. She said she flew in on Saturday, some players on Sunday, and that the team decided Hull would be better off preparing at home in England, so she flew in on Monday night.

So the sequence is: permission to arrive late, a Monday night flight, a Tuesday morning range session, a tee time misread by five minutes. Nothing in it involves a bar.

Where the “drinks” line came from

Hull said it. That's the detail every clickbait version buried.

Golfmagic reports that after hitting her opening drive, Hull laughed and told those around her, “We had drinks last night!” The Guardian's account adds that she appeared to point toward her caddie as she said it. It was a joke from a player who has just turned up two minutes late in front of a TV camera, and it reads as one.

The clip travelled. The Guardian describes it prompting a cascade of online speculation, which is what Reid was answering when she spoke to reporters.

Her answer was blunt. “It is a completely false story,” Reid said, per The Guardian, before adding that Hull doesn't even drink. Asked about the actual delay, Reid took the blame herself, saying she was responsible for Hull and that dragging Hull off the range is a feat at any tournament, especially a Solheim Cup.

One thing worth flagging honestly. When a reporter pointed out that many people hadn't heard the story at all, Reid said she wanted to shut it down before people started talking. Golf Raw's reading is that the denial arrived slightly ahead of the rumour, which is why some of you are hearing about it for the first time from an article debunking it.

Why it got the reaction it did

Because it's Charley Hull, and the internet has a shelf for her.

The Guardian notes her recent Women's Open was overshadowed by a prank she played on her caddie, and that there's rarely a dull moment around her. Golfmagic adds she'd turned heads this week by switching from blonde to brunette. She's a player whose personality gets coverage, which means a two-minute delay and a throwaway line become content in a way they wouldn't for most of the field.

Golf Raw's position is simple. The double standard isn't about drinking, since nobody credible has suggested she was. It's that a player who's candid and quick with a joke gets her jokes treated as confessions. Reid saying she wanted to shut it down before it started tells you the team knows how that machine works.

The stakes are real too. Hull and Woad are the two world top-10 players on Europe's side, per The Guardian, and Hull is at her eighth Solheim Cup, level with Carlota Ciganda for the most experience in the home team, per Sky Sports. Dame Laura Davies told the Sky Sports Golf Podcast in August that Hull needs to “step up and lead” this side.

That's the context for a captain letting her prepare at home and a vice-captain taking a bullet over a five-minute tee time.

The timeline

• Saturday, September 5: Nordqvist arrives in the Netherlands, per The Guardian.
• Sunday, September 6: Some European players arrive.
• Monday, September 7: Hull flies in, having prepared at home in England with the captain's agreement. Reid says she was in bed by eight.
• Tuesday, September 8, morning: Hull's group tees off for practice. She arrives at the tee two minutes later, hits her drive, jokes about drinks, catches up.
• Tuesday, September 8, later: Reid calls the story completely false and takes responsibility for the delay.
• Friday, September 11: Competition begins.

FAQ

The Raw Verdict

A two-minute delay, one joke, and a vice-captain who moved faster than the rumour. That's the whole thing, and the only reason it exists is that Hull is the kind of player people want stories about.

If you're watching on Friday, watch the golf. Hull is one of two top-10 players on the home side and her captain thought she was better off preparing in England than sitting in a team hotel. That's a judgment about a player they trust, not one they're worried about, and it tells you far more than a five-second clip on the first tee.

Add Golf Raw as a preferred source in Google News for golf reporting that checks the clip before it repeats it.