Nelly Korda was dynamic on day one at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, earning two full points in a dominant performance for Team USA.
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GAINESVILLE, Va. – Nor Nelly Korda lined up her approach shot on the par-5 14th Robert Trent Jones Golf Club on Friday afternoon, the outcome of her four-ball match was in little doubt. At 5-over with five holes to play, she and Megan Khang were confident of a win. The only remaining suspense was how Korda would score her game of the day.
What followed was an exclamation.
Korda lofted a hybrid up and out to the right of the jammed pin and watched as her ball bounced back toward the flagpole. Her ball dropped from the sky right next to the hole, making several bounces before coming to rest 12 feet behind the cup. Moments later, she rolled in an eagle putt – her second in three holes – to close out a 6-4 victory over Georgia Hall and Leona Maguire.
“We have No. 1 in the world,” said US captain Stacy Lewis. “And it’s very helpful when she plays well.”
Korda is ranked as the best player in the women’s game for all of 2024 — and on day one at Solheim Cup, she played like that.
Over the course of two sessions – four in the morning and four in the afternoon – Korda earned two full points for Team USA. She and teammate Alisen Corpuz dispatched Charley Hull and Esther Henseleit 3 ​​and 2 in the first match of the day before Korda returned to the top spot for the afternoon session en route to a 6-2 American advantage after Day 1 .
According to the statistics team for Team USA, Korda won 7.5 strokes on the course during her four-hole afternoon match, in which she went eight under through 14 holes.
“It’s the highest (stats the team) has ever seen in a single session that they’ve worked,” Lewis said. “Quite impressive this afternoon.”
Of the 30 holes Korda played Friday, she won 16. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that number is the most holes won in a single day at the Solheim Cup since at least 2015. The second most in that span was 15, from her sister, Jessica, in 2019.
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Korda was particularly dynamic on four par-5s over two sessions on Friday, winning each of the eight games he played on the day, the last of which was an eagle on the 14th that sent the crowd in the surrounding amphitheater into a frenzy.
“I think you thrive on crowds,” Korda said.
When she and Khang jumped into their four-ball match, they made it their goal to engage the spectators and set the tone for the Americans in the afternoon. The best friend duo did just that — and then some — by dancing, cheering and moving around the course all afternoon.
“Getting the crowd going in the afternoon was so, so fun and something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Korda said. “It just seems like an exclamation point to do this with Megan in the afternoon, too.”
Added Khang: “Me and Nelly, our friendship goes back to the Junior Solheim Cup days – that’s how we got really close. From that couple back then, I know we wanted to play on the current Solheim Cup team as partners.”
Korda and Khang played on that Junior Solheim Cup winning side in 2015, but featured as teammates in CURRENT The Solheim Cup has not been so fruitful. The pair have not played on a winning team in their three cups together, most recently last summer at Finca Cortes as Team USA was tied with Team Europe.
“We have some unfinished business,” Korda said.
If ever there was a year for Team USA to ride its pure superstardom to victory, this is it. Korda’s 2024 season has been a historic one as she scored six wins, including a major, over the first five months of the year. And although she hasn’t won a tournament since the start of the summer, her opening day play at the Solheim Cup reminded us that when she’s flying at top speed, there’s no one who can catch her.
