There’s no such thing as a lock, but Nelly Korda has felt like an automatic choice to win every tournament she’s teed it up in this season on the LPGA Tour. It felt the same this week in the lead-up to the US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club, where Korda was a 3-1 favourite, the next closest competitor being Rose Zhang at 16-1.
Just three holes into her first round, Korda seemed like a lock to miss the cut. Yes, really.
After a bogey on her first hole, the par-4 10th, the world No.1 made par at the 11th and then got stuck on the 12th tee for more than 20 minutes. The treacherous par 3 is already wreaking havoc on the field, and it’s causing a massive back-up as players attempt to navigate it. Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe made a 9 on the hole, which was somehow outdone by none other than Korda, who flew the green into the back bunker and then hit her second across the green into the creek that runs in front of it.
Her troubles were only getting started. After taking her drop on the other side of the creek, Korda chunked her fourth shot back into the water and had to take another drop, a scene reminiscent of Jordan Spieth’s debacle at the 12th hole on Sunday at the 2016 Masters. She then her hit sixth into the water again, turning a mini-disaster into an outright catastrophe on just her third hole of the championship.
After yet another drop, Korda put her eighth shot on the hole to 11 feet, missing the putt for a 9 and tapping in for the worst score in golf – a double-digit score of 10. Here’s the full breakdown from our graphics gurus here at Golf Digest (WARNING: NSFW):
Nelly Korda just made a TEN on the par-3 12th hole at the U.S. Women's Open. 🫣 pic.twitter.com/OwKJLhV49U
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) May 30, 2024
🚨😲🏌🏼♀️#WATCH Video has surfaced of the 10 Nelly Korda recorded on the par-3 12th hole @NellyLegion
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) May 30, 2024
With the 10, Korda dropped to eight-over par, playing two-over-par golf the rest of the round to card a 10-over 80. Only four players have returned higher scores for the day. It’s far too early to know what the cut line will be, but whatever it is Korda will need a lot of birdies in the second round to start working towards it. Not exactly what she or any of us had in mind coming into the week, but golf remains the most humbling game there is.