LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — Nelly Korda wasn’t even three holes into the U.S. Women’s Open when she crouched and lowered her head in disbelief after her third straight shot — all from inside 70 feet – fell into a stream.
She left the par-3 12th hole at Lancaster Country Club with a 10.
It didn’t get much better from there.
“Making a 10 on a par 3 certainly won’t do you any good at a U.S. Open,” Korda said when her nightmarish start to women’s golf’s biggest championship ended with an 80, leaving her 12 shots ahead.
“Just a bad day at the office.”
Korda came into the U.S. Women’s Open as a heavy favorite, with six wins in her last seven tournaments, including a major that tied an LPGA record for five consecutive victories.
This is what made The 10 Most Imperfect so shocking.
It didn’t help that two groups were on the tee at the 161-yard 12th hole — Korda had to wait about 25 minutes — and she saw the problems unfold before pulling a club. In the leading group, Gaby Lopez missed the water. Ingrid Lindblad’s tee shot rolled into the water.
Korda oddly chose the 6-iron — most players don’t make it as long as his 7-iron — and it took a hard hop to get to a back bunker. And then the trouble started.
Korda said she had a leaf under her golf ball and the bunker shot came out a little hot and rolled — and rolled — past the front pin, off the false front and disappeared into the creek.
“I really couldn’t do anything about it,” she said. “Yeah, I just hit some really bad chips, over and over again.”
She played a low tone on the slope, but the sound hit the hill and fell back into the water. She took another penalty, played another low throw that was only slightly better, still not enough to avoid falling back into the water.
She made it the third time, only to miss an 8-foot putt and take a septuple bogey 10. Korda left the green, removed her visor and placed her hand on her forehead for a few seconds, then walked toward the 13th tee. .
A video crew kept the camera fixed on the step marker while “+1” was replaced with “+8” next to his name.
She still had 15 holes ahead of her on a course that didn’t present many scoring opportunities. Only three players in the morning wave beat par at 1 under 69. Her goal?
“I just didn’t really want to shoot 80,” Korda said. “And I kept making bogeys.”
It was her second straight round of 80 at the U.S. Women’s Open, separated by 11 months and some 3,000 miles — Korda shot 80 in the final round at Pebble Beach last summer.
The only highest rounds of her career were 81 – one at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship when she was 15, the other at the 2013 US Women’s Open at 14.
The 12th hole was the most difficult of the first round. The tee was moved forward and the pin was in front of a green that slopes back to front, with a slightly harsher pitch that sends balls into the creek.
The game was playing almost a full shot over par when the afternoon groups began play. There were also suspicious executions by Korda, starting with club selection.
Sei Young Kim also saw the group ahead entering the water, although this helped him realize that the wind was stronger than he could have felt. She had an 8-iron in hand, then switched to a 7-iron, which she hit 18 feet behind the flag.
Korda was between the 7-iron and 6-iron, and took the stronger club, then moved back a length of the club.
“I just didn’t really know what to hit,” she said. “Sometimes it’s not really nice to see the girls playing in front of you because of them – Gaby didn’t reach the water, and I think Ingrid went into the water. It was just a tough day.
She also flirted with trouble by playing the low tone instead of a more sure shot behind the hole.
Turns out that was just the beginning of his problems. She lay down in the rough on the par-5 13th and had to two-putt from 55 feet for par. She missed a 3-foot par putt on the 15th and a 5-foot par putt on the 17th.
Korda didn’t make her first birdie until her 12th hole, No. 3, when she holed a 12-foot putt and smiled with a mock celebration. Two holes later, however, she missed a 4-foot par putt and then almost found water at the par-3 sixth, leading to a bogey.
She finished with an approach up the hill to the ninth that left her at 55 feet with a quick putt to a front pin. She walked those 12 feet and missed her sixth bogey, to go along with a septuple bogey on a hole where she left her mark for all the wrong reasons.
“I’m human,” Korda said. “I’m going to have bad days. So far I have played very solid golf. Today was just a bad day. That’s all I can say.”
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