For World No.1, Nelly Korda, a bad day at the office is usually missing out on the top-10 come Sunday night. However, the Florida-born athlete was feeling low after two different versions of the number 10 all but ended her hopes of an acceptable week on Thursday.
First, Korda stunned everyone by carding a 10 on the 161-yard par-3 12th at Lancaster Country Club – dunking three golf balls in the water in uncharacteristic fashion. It was only her third hole of the day and, following an opening bogey, put her eight-over.
The 25-year-old made the turn at 10-over following two further bogeys but managed to stop the metaphorical bleeding with a birdie on Lancaster’s third hole – Korda’s 12th.
However, consecutive bogeys left Korda on 11-over prior to a couple of late birdies which preceded a closing bogey. The Chevron Championship winner walked off having shot 80 on the par-70 course and was struggling to see any plus points from her day’s work in the post-round interview.
Korda said: “I mean, not a lot of positive thoughts, honestly. Just honestly, I just didn’t play well today. I didn’t hit it good. I found myself in the rough a lot. Making a 10 on a par-3 will definitely not do you any good at a US Open.
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“I started off really poorly but played pretty well on the back nine. But overall, yeah, just a bad day in the office.”
Korda’s 10 was the crux of her nightmare first-round outing, though, especially given that she was only three-over across the other 17 holes – a score which would have left the World No.1 in a tie for 35th heading into Friday.
While Korda admitted the execution of her shots was not what she had hoped for stood over them, the Bradenton-born golfer briefly shared her group was required to wait almost half an hour on the extremely difficult 12th tee box before eventually being allowed to hit.
Asked what complications were involved in choosing a club on 12, Korda said: “We waited for like 25 to 30 minutes on that tee, too. I was in between a 7-iron and a 6-iron. I just didn’t really know what to hit.
“Sometimes it’s not really good seeing the girls play in front of you because two of them — Gaby [Lopez] came up short of the water, and I think Ingrid [Lindblad] went into the water. It was just a tough day.
“I kind of teed it up behind the…
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