Nelly Korda should’ve won this golf championship.
Instead, she lost it.
The world No. 1 led by three shots at the midway point of the AIG Women’s Open, poised to join Lorena Ochoa and Stacy Lewis as the only women’s major champions at St. Andrews. But two sloppy back nines on the weekend allowed Lydia Ko to grab the trophy, with Korda – who for 75% of the tournament looked like the unbeatable player we saw win six of seven events earlier this year – relegated to a four-way tie for second, two shots behind.
“Listen, it’s golf,” Korda said afterward in the interview area, Ko stroking putts not too far away as she waited for the final group to finish. “I’m going to mess up and unfortunately, I messed up over the weekend twice in two penalizing ways coming down the stretch. Theoretically, that’s what kind of cost me the tournament.”
Only there was nothing theoretical about this; Korda’s collapse was very real.
The blustery conditions finally cracked Korda with nine holes to play on Saturday afternoon. She ballooned in the chilling wind with three bogeys and a double bogey, salvaging a third-round 75 with a closing birdie but still two shots behind new leader Jiyai Shin.
And just when Korda fought back Sunday with four birdies in a six-hole stretch to pull two ahead with six to play, she wrecked her momentum with a soul-crushing double bogey at the par-5 14th. She flew her third shot with a 58-degree wedge over the green and then was too cautious with her chip from a tough lie, not quite catching the proper shelf and watching her ball roll back off the green. She chipped again, this time some 7 feet past and didn’t touch the hole with her bogey putt.
After Ko nearly made birdie at the par-4 17th following a beautifully struck 3-wood in the heaviest rain of the week and then gave herself a nice look at birdie at the par-4 finishing hole, Korda, looking dejected (especially compared to Ko, who laughed with rookie Alexa Pano while walking down the 18th fairway), found the Road Hole Bunker at No. 17. Not able to go right at the pin because of the bunker lip, Korda played out right.
As Korda faced a critical par save, Ko cashed in her birdie up ahead and gave the crowd a fist pump. Korda’s 10-footer back at No. 17 never had a chance, coming up short — just like her chances at a third major title.
A day after declining media aside from a post-round television interview, Korda answered a few questions from reporters on Sunday evening. She was pleased with her ball-striking and was excited to get home, out of the wind and back to seeing a straight ball flight. She also was encouraged by her new TaylorMade mallet putter that she threw in the bag for the first time this week, though she still averaged 32 putts in four rounds; not great, but when you do the other stuff as well as Korda does, those aren’t bad putting numbers.
“Obviously in hindsight, I played really well this week,” Korda said, “and hopefully that is going to be trending in the right direction again.”
Still, this one will sting for a bit.
Korda knows it should be her — not Ko — departing the Home of Golf with the trophy.