Nelly Korda held a two-shot lead when she stepped up to the 14th tee, the final par-5 on the iconic Old Course at St. Andrews.
Sitting at 8-under-par, five straight pars likely would have given her a third career major title. After all, Lydia Ko won the Women’s Open at 7-under overall, making a birdie on 18 to post that score.
But after air-mailing the green with her third shot on the 14th, Korda made a complete mess of it. She left her fourth shot short of the green, chipped onto the putting surface, and three-putted from there, thus carding a woeful, double-bogey seven.
“I had 58-degree [for my third], and it just shot on me,” Korda said of her double.
“The wedge shot I had over the green was sitting a little bit in a hole with some of ‘hay’ or whatever you call it behind it. I just couldn’t catch it cleanly and then obviously didn’t make the putt for bogey.”
At that point, Korda dropped back into a tie for first alongside Ko and Jiyai Shin. Lilia Vu then joined this trio at 6-under moments later.
Nevertheless, Korda still had a chance to win the championship outright, but her prospects significantly diminished after her mistake on 14.
Even then, with a sideways rain drenching St. Andrews, Korda fired a dart into the par-4 16th, the hole where she made a double-bogey the day before. It looked like she would bounce back right then and there, but she missed her excellent look for birdie, thus settling for par to remain at 6-under.
On the next hole, the famous par-4 17th, Korda missed the fairway left and put her second shot into the famous ‘Road Hole’ bunker. She failed to get up and down from there, as her ball did not trickle down into the flat, thanks to the precipitation. That forced her to aim well right of the flag, but she still managed to hit a solid third to about 12 feet. But her par putt did not drop, as she left it short.
Korda fell two behind Ko with one hole to play.
“I was a little too close to the back edge where I’ve had one of those where you think you can get it, but you swing and miss, and you hit the top of the bunker,” Korda explained.
“Instead of doing that, I took my medicine and went a little right. Hit the putt really good but just didn’t have enough speed.”
Outside of the 14th and 17th holes, Korda put together a terrific final round. She stuck to her game plan, made four birdies over her first 10 holes, and made a valiant effort at the Old Course. She knows that as well as anyone. Hence, her confidence remains high.
“I’m going to mess up, and unfortunately, I messed up over the weekend twice in two penalizing ways coming down the stretch,” Korda said.
“Theoretically, that’s what cost me the tournament, but I played well. I played solid. I even fought after that. I’m going to take that into the next coming events.”
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.
