KATHERINE HULL'S COACH READS HER THE RIOT ACT

FROM THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD WEBSITE By PETER STONE
Katherine Hull is a delightful young lady with a sparkling personality but beneath that exterior there burns a competitive fire that at times becomes an inferno, and it was never more evident than during last week's Women's Australian Open at Melbourne's Commonwealth course, for which she is now ashamed.
Her coach Steve McRae has read her the riot act over her hissy fits, which involved several occasions of burying the head of an offending club into the turf, not once, but several times and trying to belt the living daylights out of her golf bag with a club as well, and a fine from the Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour for club abuse might be in the offing.
ALPG chief executive Warren Sevil hasn't yet seen a tape of her actions, and maybe could borrow Hull's DVD, prepared on her request, after some folk mentioned to her that her behaviour was a touch over the top.
 ''I don't think it was quite as bad as what some people made it out to be, but I do have a fiery personality. Have you ever seen me on a tennis court? The racquet gets thrown against the back fence a lot. Last week was kind of rare, I haven't been like that on a golf course ever. Yes, it was a bit out of control, and I'm vowing not to let it happen again,'' she said at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast yesterday.
''It doesn't look good, especially if there are kids out there. I don't want to be a bad example. I just have to not release that much steam all at once. I'm going to have to figure out a way to gently release it. I do get very intense, and consider myself very competitive and I have high expectations and put a lot of pressure on myself, so the simpler I can keep it, and more joking around, I might be able to get out of this serious mode. As hard as you work, you can't make it business all the time … at the end of the day you should just go out there and try to enjoy it and play your best.''
Tiger Woods was a past master at parading his disgust with a shot to all and sundry. But his fury was all over before the next shot, not so with Hull at Commonwealth last week.
So, the big test of her control comes on Thursday when she tees off in company with South African Lee-Anne Pace and Korean Eun-Hee Ji in the opening round of the ANZ/RACV Ladies Masters.
What is surprising is that Hull, the world No.18, has not yet been in contention even though she had top-10 finishes in the three lead-up events to the Masters - the Women's NSW Open, the Royal Canberra Classic and the Australian Open - after winning 36-hole Moss Vale and Mt Broughton pro-ams before the bigger events.
She admits to over-training in the gym before the NSW event. She flew her personal trainer from the US for the week, and said it affected her performance at Oatlands, but that her body was in good shape for the big ones. Her game wasn't, nor was her deteriorating temperament. Still, Hull, winner of the Masters two years ago, is on the second line of betting at $7 with TAB Sportsbet alongside Karrie Webb, with last week's open winner Yani Tseng the $4 favourite.