Nelly Korda says untimely Olympic shank hints at larger problem

With 18 holes remaining at the 2024 Paris Olympics, women’s World No. 1 Nelly Korda trailed by five shots at Le Golf National, and was hoping to channel some of her compatriot Scottie Scheffler’s magic from last week’s Olympic men’s competition, when Scheffler charged from six shots back to claim the gold medal.

“I’m giving myself a chance,” Korda said on Friday. “Anything can happen. Scottie was nine back, or whatever he was at, and he ended up winning.”

Unfortunately for Korda, the charge she needed never materialized. While she got off to an auspicious start with two birdies in her opening three holes, bogeys at Nos. 5 and 7 brought her back to even on the day. She made the turn at one-under for the round after a birdie on the ninth, but her chances of following up her Tokyo gold with another medal in Paris were sunk on brutal bogey-birdie-double-par-bogey stretch on Nos. 13-17. Korda ultimately shot a final-round 75 to finish T22, four shots behind American teammate Rose Zhang (T8), and nine shots behind winner Lydia Ko.

It was the double on No. 15, though, that was particularly devastating to Korda’s medal hopes, and she addressed the issue after her round.

“I just shanked it,” she said. “I just hit it fat and hit it short and into the water.”

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According to Korda, the shank wasn’t the only problem she dealt with during her final round.

“I think recently what’s been happening to me is I make a mistake and then I make another mistake on top of it,” she said. “Needing to control that bit of it where I don’t compile all the mistakes, which that’s what I’ve been kind of doing recently.”

Despite the disappointing finish, Korda was proud of her efforts.

“I’m never going to stop trying and I’m always going to try my hardest and I’m never going to back down,” she said. “At the end of the day, I played some really solid golf for three years from Tokyo to get me back on to this team and to represent the United States, and to be at the Olympics again. I’m a two-time Olympian and I have a gold medal and I’m proud of that.”

While the men’s season is wrapping up with the start of the FedExCup playoffs next week, the women still have the year’s final major left on the calendar. Next week, the LPGA tour heads to Dundonald Links for the Scottish Open, followed by the Women’s Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews, where Korda will chase her 15th career LPGA victory and third major championship.

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As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.

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