Charley Hull is Ban from smoking at Le Golf National, but that hasn’t stopped fans from lighting up
The big golf news out of Paris on Tuesday was that viral sensation Charley Hull—often spotted on the course in a cloud of smoke, cigarette dangling from her lips—would not be permitted to light up at Le Golf National due to Olympic regulations. Asked if she believed the strict smoking policy would affect her athletic performance, she said, “I think it will, because it relaxes me a little bit.”
Unfortunately, it appears she was right.
Hull shot a disastrous nine-over 81 during her first round on Thursday, sitting in 58th out of 60 players at the time of writing. It was a brutal performance from the World No. 11, and judging from the galleries at Le Golf National, not an altogether fair one. While Hull wasn’t allowed to fire up a heater during her opening round, fans around the course were spotted smoking wherever they liked, despite the Olympic smoking policy, which limits tobacco use to designated smoking areas only. The following photos were taken by Golf Digest Senior Equipment Editor Mike Stachura at Le Golf National on Thursday morning.
Stachura mentioned that the experience wasn’t exactly like being with Jean-Paul Sartre at Les Deux Magots in the past, but he observed over twelve fans smoking openly on the course in just a few hours. It’s possible that Hull also noticed them. Clearly, there is a noticeable sense of hypocrisy in this situation.
Olympic athletes are required to be role models and are held to very high standards, particularly regarding the substances they consume.
While it may be easier to monitor the behavior of 60 players compared to thousands of fans, if golfers are prohibited from smoking while fans are allowed to smoke on the tee box, it could raise concerns and potentially affect the players’ performances.
It is unlikely that Hull will be greatly bothered by this issue, as she has more pressing matters to focus on.
However, to us, it seems like a straightforward case of favoritism or double standards. Does anyone know how to express this in French?
