Late hiccup cost Nelly Korda at Women’s PGA, but she’s still in good shape in her run for history
· Yahoo Sports
World No. 1 Nelly Korda had a fine start at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in her quest to win three consecutive majors. It could have been even better, if not for one big mishap.
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Korda shot a two-under 70 Thursday in the first round at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota.
“It's definitely a confidence boost for sure, but every tournament is so different just based off how you're feeling, how you're hitting it, the course, if it suits your eye or not,” Korda said. “I put myself into a good position. I'm really happy with the first day. You can't win it on the first day but you can definitely lose it. Just overall happy with a solid start.”
The 27-year-old Korda, who won the Chevron Championship and U.S. Women’s Open, was inside the top-10 when she finished her round, but is seven shots behind Ina Yoon, who shot an impressive nine-under 63, which included making 130 feet of putts. Her 63 matches the lowest opening round in the history of the Women's PGA.
Korda double bogeyed the 16th hole, which started with an errant tee shot that found water left of the fairway. It ended with a three putt for double, her first double or higher in her previous 347 holes. Overall though, she worked around five birdies and a bogey en route to a fine first round. But, oh what could’ve been without that blemish.
“It was solid,” Korda said. “Honestly, just made one bad swing, which ended up in a double. Overall, pretty happy with my day … Just overturned it. By now you just feel it when it's bad. So the wind was off the right and I actually I think just made too fast of a swing and I was kind of in between clubs. It's a pretty intimidating tee shot and I just didn't really like the way I hit it off the start.”
Still, she has to like the position she’s in after 18 holes. At Riviera, Korda played the role of leader and made a short putt on the 18th hole for the victory. Now, she’s giving chase.
She’s got plenty of fans in her gallery, per usual, and on Thursday she was surprised with a local group of LPGA Girls Golf fans wearing custom USA soccer jerseys with her No. 13, like Korda wore recently. They held signs and showed their support. One girl even asked Korda if she was excited that they were cheering for her in the post-round press conference. Korda usually always signs autographs until every child has one.
“I saw them when I walked up to the first tee. I saw they had the No. 13 jersey but I didn't know my name was on the back of all of them,” Korda said. “It was a cute surprise after a few holes when I noticed them. A lot of posters with, ‘Go, Nelly, go.’ They take so much time out of their day to do that, so to come out and support us, it was quite amazing. I've never had that before at a tournament and they were all so cute. When they wanted me to sign anything during the round, I did it. I had a smile on my face through the majority of the day when I saw them.”
That smile will certainly continue if Korda continues to stay in position to win a third consecutive major.