Any St. Andrews visitor knows the Dunvegan is a respite from even the worst days at the Old Course.
The cozy, 18th-green-adjacent pub remains one of the most beloved watering holes in all of golf, relying on its museum-like interiors and world-renowned barkeeps to fend off competition from all manner of nearby establishments. It can be said that a cold pint at the Dunvegan warms the soul, but that still doesn’t explain why the pub welcomed a surprise visitor on Sunday evening: Nelly Korda.
Korda, you might know, was just hours removed from the gutwrenching end of the AIG Women’s Open, where she shot three over in her final five holes to lose the tournament by two. For a golfer with Korda’s skillset and expectations at a tournament with the Old Course’s meaning and history, an 8-iron to the shins might have been preferable to spending the hours following the finish surrounded by the greater St. Andrews golfing public.
And yet, in the hours that followed the loss, that’s exactly what she did. Korda made her way to the Dunny, where she was photographed next to a pair of bartenders wearing a sweatshirt reading “It costs zero dollars to be a nice person.”
Details of the remainder of her visit to the golf world’s most famous bar remain scant, but in this instance, her appearance at the bar alone speaks volumes.
At the end of a major season that has seen Korda rise to some of the steepest highs of her professional life — and fall under intense scrutiny for her handling the limelight — Korda’s small act on Sunday in St. Andrews gives us a rare glimpse into the life the star golfer leads when the cameras are off.
It will take Korda time to get over the loss on Sunday at the Old Course, particularly as she watched another one-time neophyte, Lydia Ko, earn a redemptive win in her stead. But it will be easier after an evening at the Dunvegan.
It always is.
