English golf is in the midst of a boom. Both Charley Hull, No. 5, and Lottie Woad, No. 8, are enjoying the highest rankings of their careers.
When Woad rose to No. 10 in the world for the first time on Nov. 3, 2025, it marked the first time two players from England were ranked in the top 10. Hull, at the time, was No. 6.
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Woad, a former top-ranked amateur, started off the 2026 season with a seventh-place finish at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Hull headlines the field at this week’s PIF Saudi Ladies International. Both won on the LPGA last season.
With major champion Georgia Hall on maternity leave, the next highest-ranked English player is LPGA rookie Mimi Rhodes, who won three times on the Ladies European Tour last year. The former Wake Forest standout is currently 73rd in the world, also a career-best. Rhodes, who went viral last summer after a bank-shot ace at the British Open, is also in the field in Saudi.
Hull tees off in the first round on Wednesday alongside 2024 Saudi International champion Patty Tavatanakit and Muni He. A four-time winner on the LET, one of Hull’s titles came two years ago at Riyadh Golf Club. She has three additional top 10s in Saudi Arabia.
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“I like how you can be quite aggressive around here,” she said, adding, “If you hit it out of line, you’re on the sand. On the 15th last year, I was in the waste bunker on the left and I hit it to 10 feet. That was an unbelievable shot, and I don’t know how I hit it there.”
The Saudi Ladies International kicks off the 2026 LET season. It’s purse of $5 million is the highest in women’s golf outside the majors and CME Group Tour Championship. The Saudi Ladies International marks the first in a series of five tournaments sponsored by the PIF Global Series. Saudi-backed events remain controversial, given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LPGA: Charley Hull, Lottie Woad make history with career-best rankings
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