[Photo: Stuart Franklin]
World No. 1 Nelly Korda got off to a disastrous start in the Amundi Evian Championship and her hopes for a career Grand Slam and entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame will likely have to wait.
Korda shot an opening-round three-over 74 at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France and is in danger of missing the cut. The 27-year-old is 11 shots behind Japanese star Aki Iwai, who blistered the course with an eight-under 63 in Evian-les-Bains on Thursday.
Korda won the first two majors of the year—the Chevron Championship and U.S. Women’s Open—but her bid to win the first three majors this season ended at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship where she tied for eighth place.
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Korda has won four tournaments this season and has nine top-10 finishes. She’s played some of the best golf of her career, but that streak seems like it’ll end. If she doesn’t go really low Friday this would be her first missed cut of the season.
After the round, Korda declined to talk about her round through a tour representative. She hasn’t specifically said that she doesn’t like the Evian course, but you can read between the lines from her pre-tournament interviews.
“I don’t know. It’s Evian. That’s all I’m going to say,” she said earlier this week. “I’ve hit some really good shots and ended up in some really bad places and hit some bad places and ended up in good places.
“What I learned every year is that patience is key out here. I’m still figuring it out. Like it’s Year 10. Every year I learn something new about this place. So, yeah, it’s just Evian.”
While this course may not suit Korda’s eye, it works for Iwai as she feels right at home.
“I like the course,” Iwai said. “It’s kind of like Japanese courses.”
Korda has never won either of the two majors overseas. Next week, the LPGA is off, then they’ll play in the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open and the AIG Women’s British Open. That means the LPGA has three majors in six weeks.
Asked how she handles that earlier this week, Korda said: “Trying to prioritise sleep and rest. It’s a lot, definitely. The scheduling of three majors in a short amount of time is definitely a lot mentally, physically, and with it being that a week and a half ago we were in Minnesota and then this week we’re in France, and then kind of travelling all over, it can get to be a lot.
“Making sure that you’re prioritising your body, your rest, and not overdoing it. Just when you kind of think you need to go to the gym maybe or wanting to rest, I think that at this point in the season sometimes resting is actually more beneficial.”
Korda might have an unintended break this weekend if she doesn’t play much better in Round 2.
