CHASKA, Minn. — Nelly Korda wasted no time getting her jersey. Usually, that means two things: it’s really good, or it’s really bad.
This was the latter.
“I just overturned it,” Korda said of her tee shot on the par-4 16th hole at Hazeltine National, which connected in the creek that runs up the left side of the course’s signature hole. “By now you just feel it when it’s bad. So the wind was to the right and I actually think I just took a really quick swing and I was kind of between the clubs.
“It’s a pretty intimidating tee shot and I just didn’t really like the way I hit it at first.”
Korda took a near fall, wedged in, then jumped 35 feet for a messy double. It was her only double of the day and came after she made three birdies in a span of five holes.
She still shot a two-under 70 in the first round The KPMG PGA Women’s Championshipwhich was good enough to stay in the top 10 of Thursday morning’s wave, although she is seven behind early leader Ina Yoon, who shot 63.
There is no shortage pressure on Korda this weekwhere she is trying to become only the third player in LPGA history to win the first three events of the season. A win this week would also send Korda, still just 27, into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
She started early Thursday morning – with a large contingent of fans following her – and turned in one below. She added birdies on 11, 13 and 15 before acing the 378-yard par-4 16th hole, a short par-4 played along Hazeltine Lake that has a narrow driving window — lake right, creek left — and much of the green protected by water. During the 2016 Ryder Cup, the 16th was changed to the 5th hole to ensure it played a role in the match. Korda hit the driver on Thursday.
“It’s between a 3-wood and the driver,” Korda said. “You can’t lay it too far because then you’re blocked by the trees and you have a long shot to a pretty difficult green that’s pretty undulating, so you have to risk it.”
Korda begins its second round at 2:42 pm ET on Friday.
“Honestly, he just took a bad swing that ended up in deuces,” Korda said. “But overall, very happy with my day.”
