Nelly Korda Makes 10 On A Par 3 In Nightmare US Women’s Open Start

Nelly Korda came into the week with six wins in her last seven starts - but faces a mountain to climb after a disastrous third hole

A composite picture featuring Nelly Korda (left) and her septuple bogey at the 2024 US Women's Open
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Nelly Korda's hopes of continuing her red-hot winning form at this week's US Women's Open went up in flames after only three holes of the first round. 

Korda arrived at Lancaster Country Club for the second women's Major of the year as the heavy favourite having won six of her last seven starts. The historic run included claiming her second career Major at the Chevron Championship last month. 

However, the World No.1's hopes of adding to that tally this week appear all but over after she carded a disastrous septuple-bogey ten on the par-3 12th hole, just her third hole of the day. 

Nelly Korda's scorecard on the par-3 12th

Nelly Korda found the water on three occasions

(Image credit: USGA)

Starting on the back nine, Korda bogeyed her opening hole before arriving on the 12th tee. A severe backlog meant the American's group was forced to wait a while before being able to hit their tee shots.

Korda's eventual tee shot flew the green, landing in the back bunker. With the green slopping away from the sand and towards the water, the 25-year-old faced a difficult up and down. 

However, disaster struck when she found the water not once - or twice - but three times. Forced to take penalty drops on each occasion, she eventually two-putted for a seven-over-par ten. The score marks her highest single-hole score of her LPGA Tour career having previously made an eight on four occasions. 

Another bogey followed on the par-4 15th to leave her +9 for the tournament at the time of writing and a whopping ten shots of the early leaders. 

Korda was not the only player to struggle with the par-3 12th, with Colombia's Mariajo Uribe also making a sextuple-bogey nine having found the water on two occasions from the greenside rough beyond the green. 

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Ben Fleming
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Ben joined Golf Monthly having completed his NCTJ in multimedia sports journalism at News Associates, London. He is now a freelance journalist who also works for The Independent, Metro, UEFA and Stats Perform.