Nelly Korda held a two-stroke lead when she stood on the 14th tee, the final par-5 hole on St. Andrews’ famed Old Course.
At eight under par, five straight pars would probably have won her third major. In the end, Lydia Ko birdied the 18th hole to win the Women’s Open at seven under par.
But after hitting his third shot over the green on the 14th hole, Korda’s game was completely ruined. He hit his fourth shot just short of the green, chipped it onto the putting surface and then three-putted for a disastrous result. Double Bogey 7.
“I have a 58 degree [for my third]and then it was shot by me,” Korda said of her alter-ego.
“My wedge shot on the green went a little bit in the hole and there was some hay or something behind it. I couldn’t catch it cleanly and obviously missed the putt for bogey.”
At that point, Korda had fallen into a tie for the lead with Ko and Jiayi Xin, and Lilia Vu joined the trio shortly thereafter at six under par.
Korda still had a chance to win, but a mistake on the 14th hole significantly reduced his chances.
Still, with a driving rain soaking St. Andrews, Korda darts onto the par-4 16th hole where he’d double-bogeyed the day before, and it looked like he’d bounced back quickly, but he missed a golden chance for birdie and finished at 6 under par.
On the next hole, the famous par-4 17th, Korda missed the left of the fairway and put his second shot into the famous “road hole” bunker. The rain prevented the ball from landing on a flat surface, and he failed to get up and down from there. This forced him to aim well to the right of the flag, but he still managed to hit his third shot solidly to about 12 feet. But his par putt was left short and didn’t fall.
With one hole to go, Korda was two strokes behind Ko.
“I hit it a little bit too close to the back edge and I thought I could hit it but I swung and missed and it hit the top of the bunker,” Korda explained.
“Instead, I stuck to my guns and curved a little to the right. I hit the putt really well, but I just didn’t have enough speed.”
Apart from the 14th and 17th holes, Korda played a great final round. She stuck to her game plan, scoring four birdies in the first 10 holes and putting in a heroic effort on the Old Course. She knows that better than anyone, so her confidence remains high.
“I’m going to make mistakes. Unfortunately I made two mistakes over the weekend and had two penalties at the very end,” Korda said.
“In theory, that’s what cost me the tournament, but I played well. I played solid. I kept fighting after that and I’m going to continue to do that in the next tournament.”
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
