Nelly Korda falls short in bid to make the cut at U.S. Womens Open
LANCASTER, Pa. — Nelly Korda stepped to the No. 12 tee box Friday afternoon at Lancaster Country Club, confronted with the vivid memory of catastrophe there one day earlier on her third hole at the U.S. Women’s Open. In revisiting the wreckage during the second round, the world’s top-ranked player almost found misfortune again with an approach that precariously cleared a stream guarding the front.
The ball rolled back down the sloping green and into a patch of rough, which was enough to keep her tee shot from trickling into the water at the 161-yard par-3. She chipped to inside 21 feet and made the putt, smiling with relief and gesturing with both arms, as if to imply she wished it could have been as smooth in the opening round.
The moment of levity was a highlight during Korda’s bid to become the fourth player since 2000 to make the cut following an 80 or higher in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open. The winner of six events in seven starts entering this week wound up two strokes short of the cut line, sending Korda home early for the first time this year.
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The two-time major champion, including at this year’s Chevron Championship, posted an even-par 70 for a 36-hole total of 10-over 150, 14 shots behind leader Wichanee Meechai of Thailand. Only three other players were below par heading into the weekend, including American Andrea Lee in second place at 2 under.
“I knew it was going to be a tough day,” Korda said. “There’s not many low scores out here, and I was pretty far back. Tried to give it my all. That’s what I do with every round. I had nothing to lose, so that was kind of like the mentality. Just go for it.”
Korda found herself in this predicament after she carded a 10-over 80 on Thursday. It was her second consecutive 80 at the U.S. Women’s Open and included an unfathomable septuple-bogey 10 at No. 12, rated the most difficult hole on the hilly, 6,629-yard layout.
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Korda landed in a bunker with her tee shot at the treacherous hole, and her blast out of the sand ended up in the water. Two more shots landed in the water as well, and her eighth settled some 10 feet from the cup. Korda missed that putt and tapped in for the highest single-hole score of her professional career.
No such disasters befell Korda in the second round, although a bogey at No. 1 added to her degree of difficulty the rest of the way. She reeled off three straight birdies on the front to jump-start her round but gave a shot back with a bogey at No. 9 before making eight straight pars.
Needing an eagle at the par-4 18th, Korda pulled her drive into knee-high fescue and was forced to pitch out into the fairway. Her approach landed some 30 feet from the pin, and she walked off the property having ended a streak of 17 made cuts. Her last missed cut came at the 2023 Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol.
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“When I made those three birdies in a row, I wanted to make the cut, obviously,” Korda said. “I knew that I was kind of hovering around it, and I just couldn’t get anything going on the back.”
Among those also failing to advance into the weekend was Lexi Thompson, who announced Tuesday she would be retiring from a full-time schedule at the end of this year. The former world No. 2 has had a long association with the U.S. Golf Association, which stages the U.S. Women’s Open.
Thompson shot a 75 for a 36-hole total of 13 over. Starting her round on the back nine, she received a loud ovation after making her final putt at No. 9 and acknowledged the gallery with a tip of her cap.
Thompson, then 12, became the youngest player at the time to qualify for a U.S. Women’s Open when she played at Pine Needles. She went on to win her only major title at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The tournament since has become the Chevron Championship, moving outside Houston.
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Even following another uneven round Friday, Thompson paused to sign autographs on her way to the scoring tent in what has been a familiar scene throughout her career. She always has made time for younger fans in particular, even on the heels of tournament heartbreak, including when she failed to protect a five-shot lead on the back nine in the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open at Olympic Club.
“Coming into the sport, I just wanted to leave it in a better spot than it was when I first stepped in,” said Thompson, an 11-time winner on the LPGA Tour. “Having role models like Nancy Lopez and Annika [Sorenstam] and what they’ve done for the game and the way they’ve given back, that’s always what I wanted to do, whether my accomplishments or not, I always wanted to give back, sign the autographs, take the pictures, grow the game any way I can.”
Other notables missing the cut included world No. 6 Rose Zhang (11 over), three-time major champion In Gee Chun (12 over), two-time major winner and world No. 11 Brooke Henderson (12 over) and former world No. 1 Lydia Ko (13 over), a two-time major champion who remains one point from securing a spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame.
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