World No. 1 Nelly Korda got off to a hot start, but a double bogey stalled her momentum midway through her opening round.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda got off to a roaring start at the Amundi Evian Championship, the fourth major of the season, which is taking place this week in France.
Having started on the 10th hole, Korda made three birdies over her first six holes to quickly climb the leaderboard and vault to 3-under for the championship, but a double bogey at 16 stalled her momentum.
She managed to bounce back with a birdie on the par-4 18th, as she made the turn after carding a 2-under 34.
Two bogies and two birdies followed on the front, leading Korda to shoot a 2-under 69 during Thursday’s opening round—not a bad score after suffering a dog bite in Seattle that also played a role in her three-week layoff.
Still, she sits five back of Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit, young Swedish phenom Ingrid Lindblad, and Gemma Dryburgh of Scotland after day one. But Korda will need a solid second round to keep pace with the leaders going into the weekend.
That did not happen in the most recent major championship, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee. After posting a 3-under 69 on day one, Korda posted an abysmal 9-over 81 to miss the cut. She said she had “no words” about that round, only that it continued a recent trend stemming back to the U.S. Women’s Open, where she also missed the weekend. She also had a missed cut at the Meijer LPGA Classic sandwiched in between.
“You know, I love this game. I love the bad, I love the good,” Korda said ahead of this week’s Amundi Evian Championship.
“The bad makes you appreciate the good, and that’s just how it is. It’s sports. If you care so deeply about it, you’re just going to go through the wave of the roller coaster.”
Hopefully, for Korda’s sake, this week’s major along the shores of Lake Geneva will see her trend upwards once again—perhaps back to where she was during the beginning of half of the season when she won six events. But anything better than a missed cut will be a welcome sign as the Paris Olympics commence in a few weeks.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
