Charley Hull, the world’s 8th-ranked female golfer, has completed a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoot weeks after publicly defending actress Sydney Sweeney from critics who attacked her over a Novig commercial.
Six weeks ago, Hull was asked about backlash against Sweeney and praised the actress’s “sex appeal,” pushing back on commentators who argued the ad was harmful to women. Among those critics was Australian surfer Felicity Palmateer, who told CNN in September: “Just absolute utter disbelief, incredibly disappointing, like, how far you can put women’s sports backwards in the space of a 42-second commercial.”
Hull did not back down from her position. Instead, she went to Ibiza and shot her own swimsuit spread for Sports Illustrated, an experience she described this week to golf media members.
“It’s always been like a childhood dream since I was younger because one of my main idols growing up was Anna Kournikova. She’s a tennis player, and she was always in Sports Illustrated. I was like, oh, my God, please. Yeah, definitely.”
Hull said the shoot was a fast turnaround once she landed overseas.
“Yeah, just got out there in the morning. Flew to Ibiza, only like an hour and 50 flight from the UK. Literally landed, went straight into hair and makeup, and just shot until like 8 p.m. at night. Hats off to models, because it seems like a very easy job, but I didn’t realize how hard it was.”
She added that the work continued into a second day.
“Yeah, it was pretty cool. And then the next day we did like a content day on the boat, and, yeah, it was just super fun. It was good. And then I flew home that evening and I ate loads of cookies at the airport.”
Hull’s willingness to put herself in front of the camera, after speaking up for Sweeney against critics who claimed such imagery sets women’s sports back, has drawn notice from golf media covering the LPGA star.
