Nelly Korda makes a 10 in nightmare start to US Open bid

Nelly Korda hits a shot on the 12th hole during a practice round for the US Women’s Open. She ran up a 10 on the same hole in round one on Thursday (Matt Slocum/AP)

Nelly Korda’s bid to maintain her incredible run of form unravelled after just three holes of the opening round in the US Women’s Open.

Korda was a massive favourite to secure her third major title at Lancaster Country Club in Philadelphia after winning six of her last seven events.

However, having started with a bogey on the 10th, the world number one ran up a septuple-bogey 10 on the par-three 12th after hitting three balls into the water.

Nelly Korda just put three balls in the water on the par-3 12th hole to make a 10.
Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/sBmejXuWd8
— James Colgan (@jamescolgan26) May 30, 2024

Korda’s tee shot found the bunker at the back of the green and her second shot was hit too hard, catching the slope and rolling into the water.

From the drop zone Korda found the water twice more before finally hitting her eighth shot on to the green and two-putting from nine feet to slump to eight over par.

Korda’s dominant run this season includes her second major victory in the Chevron Championship, but she admitted in her pre-tournament press conference that she was expecting to face a “beast of a course” this week.

Lancaster Country Club has been revised and lengthened to a par-70 of 6,583 yards since it last hosted the US Open in 2015.