CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — Nelly Korda traded high-fives with a gaggle of young girls as she walked to the first tee to begin the Women's PGA Championship.
Korda later realized the extent of her support when she spotted her name on the back of the customized USA soccer-style jerseys above her favorite number, 13.
“It was a cute surprise after a few holes when I noticed them,” said Korda, who shot a 2-under 70 in the first round Thursday at Hazeltine National
Golf Club. “A lot of posters with, ‘Go, Nelly, go.’ They take so much time out of their day to do that, to come out and support us, and it was quite amazing. I’ve never had that before at a tournament, and they were all so cute.”
Even while carrying the pressure of her top world ranking and the quest of winning a third straight major tournament to start this season, Korda was more than willing to oblige autograph requests from her young fan club. That's the reality of her status as the face of women's golf.
“I had a smile on my face through the majority of the day when I saw them,” Korda said.
The 27-year-old Korda, the runaway LPGA Tour leader midway through this season, already has four wins and three second-place finishes in eight previous starts this year. Korda led the final 57 holes of the Chevron Championship in Houston in April, before winning her fourth career major at the U.S. Women's Open.
Inbee Park (2013) and Babe Zaharias (1950) are the only women who have won each of the first three majors in one calendar year. Winning the Women’s PGA Championship this week would also give Korda enough points in the LPGA scoring system to qualify for the Hall of Fame.
Ina Yoon surged ahead of the pack with a tournament record-tying 63 on Thursday, leaving Korda seven strokes back in a tie for 19th place.
She double-bogeyed the signature 16th hole with “one bad swing” that landed in a narrow creek to the left for a first-shot penalty stroke on the par-4 fairway flanked by Hazeltine Lake to the right.
“I just overturned it. By now you just feel it when it’s bad. So the wind was off the right and I actually I think just made a too fast of a swing and I was kind of in between clubs,” Korda said. “It’s a pretty intimidating tee shot, and I just didn’t really like the way I hit it off the start.”
She found herself caught between a driver and 3-wood for her club selection.
“You can’t lay it too far back because then you’re blocked out by the trees and you have a long shot into a pretty difficult green that is pretty undulated, so got to risk it,” she said.
The mishit came right after a five-hole stretch over which Korda was a combined 3-under. A birdie putt lipped out at No. 14.
Korda’s 19-foot putt on the 18th green stopped an inch from the hole before she tapped in for par. But there’s more than enough time to work her way up the leaderboard.
After the first round of the U.S. Women's Open at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles this month, she was tied for 56th. She won it by one stroke after a nerve-wracking putt on the 18th hole caught the left edge and dropped in.
“It’s definitely a confidence boost for sure, but every tournament is so different just based off how you’re feeling, how you’re hitting it, the course, if it suits your eye or not,” Korda said. "So I put myself into a good position. I’m really happy with the first day. You can’t win it on the first day, but you can definitely lose it.”
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