Charley Hull has finished runner-up at five major championships. She is still searching for her first win.

That pursuit resumes this week at the AIG Women's Open, the last of the year's five women's majors, held at Royal Lytham & St Annes from 29 July to 2 August 2026. The tournament marks its 50th edition with a prize fund of US$10 million and a return to the Lancashire links that has crowned two British champions in the past two decades (BBC Sport).

Scotland's Catriona Matthew won here in 2009. England's Georgia Hall followed in 2018. Both proved that Royal Lytham's flat, bunkered fairways and stubborn coastal winds reward a particular kind of patience — the sort Hull has spent a career honing.

Hull, ranked world number seven, arrives in form. The 30-year-old from Kettering won the Saudi Ladies International earlier this year and pushed world number one Nelly Korda all the way at the U.S. Women's Open at Riviera, finishing second (BBC Sport). At a previous AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl, she closed with a three-under-par final round to tie for second, two shots behind Japan's Miyu Yamashita.

Close calls, every one. Five second-place finishes in majors is a measure of how often Hull has put herself in position. It is also the detail that defines her — a player whose swing and nerve are good enough to contend at the highest level, with a major trophy still missing from the shelf.

Alongside Hull this week is Lottie Woad, ranked world number five. Woad finished as low amateur at the Evian Championship — the award given to the best-placed player who has not turned professional — and has since climbed into the game's elite (BBC Sport). Two British players in the world's top seven gives the home crowds at Royal Lytham genuine reason to watch.

For fans, the appeal of a links course is that it plays differently every day. The wind shifts, the ground firms up, and a flag tucked behind a bunker on Thursday might be reachable on Saturday if the breeze turns. Royal Lytham has more bunkers than any Open venue — 206 of them — and each one turns a safe line into a gamble.

The 50th edition brings a US$10 million purse, up from previous years, and expanded broadcast coverage across the championship's four days (The R&A). Adult tickets start at £27.50, with half-price options for younger spectators (AIG Women's Open).

The tournament begins on Wednesday 29 July. Hull has the game. Woad has the trajectory. Royal Lytham has the history. Whether any of it adds up to a British winner is what the next five days will decide.