Lexi Thompson, Rose Zhang follow Nelly Korda into dreaded U.S. Women’s Open abyss

Lancaster Country Club hosted the entire U.S. Women’s Open field on Thursday, averaging 75.21 and more than five strokes over par.

As a result, only four players recorded under par on the first day, led by Yuka Sasao, who recorded a 2-under 68.

But some of the most well-known LPGA players struggled and posted astounding scores.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda finished with a 10-over 80, including an astounding 10 on the 12th, the most difficult hole of the first round. Players averaged 3.8 strokes on the 161-yard par-3 hole, with just 10 birdies. Meanwhile, 45 players made double bogey or worse on the 12th hole, including Korda.

The top-ranked player was clearly shaken at the 12th hole, but he recorded three birdies and three bogeys on the back nine, but he still wasn’t back on track.

She wasn’t the only superstar suffer a genocidebut.

Lexi Thompson and Rose Chan also struggled, with Chan finishing with a nine-over 79 and Thompson finishing with an eight-over 78.

Thompson hit just 7 of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens, and was 147th out of 156 women in stroke gain around the greens with a score of 2.56.

Still, she got a birdie on the 12th hole, which turned out to be one of her only bright moments. She had just one birdie, six bogeys and one triple bogey.

It was a bad day for her on the golf course and nothing seemed to go right.

The same could be said for Chan, the young prodigy who came into the event fresh off his victory at the Cognizant Founders Cup.

Chan struggled with the flat stick, losing 2.7 strokes in putting strokes gained and ranking 144th among the field. To make matters worse, the 21-year-old only managed to get 8 of 18 on the green and 7 of 14 on the fairway.

Sure, she made par on the toughest hole, but the two-time LPGA champion recorded just one birdie during the round. Chang had seven bogeys, including a double bogey on the par-5 seventh hole.

Korda, Thompson and Chang were all but eliminated from contention for the U.S. Women’s Open – a course that has challenged the best players, as it did at Pebble Beach last year – but hopefully Friday’s round will show improvement that will see them qualify for the weekend.

Savannah Lee Richardson is a Golf Staff Writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow us for more golf articles. Follow You can follow us on all major social platforms. You can also follow us on Twitter Follow Instagram: @savannah_leigh_sports