For World No.1, Nelly Korda, a bad day at the office is usually missing out on the top-10 come Sunday night. However, the Florida-born athlete was feeling low after two different versions of the number 10 all but ended her hopes of an acceptable week on Thursday.
First, Korda stunned everyone by carding a 10 on the 161-yard par-3 12th at Lancaster Country Club - dunking three golf balls in the water in uncharacteristic fashion. It was only her third hole of the day and, following an opening bogey, put her eight-over.
The 25-year-old made the turn at 10-over following two further bogeys but managed to stop the metaphorical bleeding with a birdie on Lancaster's third hole - Korda's 12th.
However, consecutive bogeys left Korda on 11-over prior to a couple of late birdies which preceded a closing bogey. The Chevron Championship winner walked off having shot 80 on the par-70 course and was struggling to see any plus points from her day's work in the post-round interview.
Korda said: "I mean, not a lot of positive thoughts, honestly. Just honestly, I just didn't play well today. I didn't hit it good. I found myself in the rough a lot. Making a 10 on a par-3 will definitely not do you any good at a US Open.
"I started off really poorly but played pretty well on the back nine. But overall, yeah, just a bad day in the office."
Korda's 10 was the crux of her nightmare first-round outing, though, especially given that she was only three-over across the other 17 holes - a score which would have left the World No.1 in a tie for 35th heading into Friday.
While Korda admitted the execution of her shots was not what she had hoped for stood over them, the Bradenton-born golfer briefly shared her group was required to wait almost half an hour on the extremely difficult 12th tee box before eventually being allowed to hit.
Asked what complications were involved in choosing a club on 12, Korda said: "We waited for like 25 to 30 minutes on that tee, too. I was in between a 7-iron and a 6-iron. I just didn't really know what to hit.
"Sometimes it's not really good seeing the girls play in front of you because two of them -- Gaby [Lopez] came up short of the water, and I think Ingrid [Lindblad] went into the water. It was just a tough day.
"I kind of teed it up behind the tee box a little one club length back. I hit a 6-iron and it just kind of penetrated through the wind and it went into the back bunker.
Mel Reid (@melreidgolf) breaks down the tough par 3 12th at Lancaster, where bogey or worse was a common result Thursday at the @USWomensOpen. 🔎📺: Golf Central Live From the #USWomensOpen pic.twitter.com/O1OCPmLapfMay 31, 2024
"I kind of had a leaf under my ball, so when I hit it kind of rocketed through. Couldn't really do anything about that. Yeah, just hit some really bad chips over and over again."
Much to her frustration, Korda would go on to repeat her worst-ever professional round on the LPGA Tour - following up the final round of last season's US Women's Open at the highly-blustery Pebble Beach.
While many expected the woman who has almost robotically claimed six victories in eight starts this year to continue picking her peers apart - even on the toughest courses - Korda pointed out that this dip in form simply points out that she is indeed human.
Nelly Korda opens with 80, tying her highest LPGA score as a professional. She also shot 80 in the final round of last year's U.S. Women's Open.It's just the second round all season in which Nelly has lost strokes to the field tee-to-green.May 30, 2024
Asked what her plan was after the septuple-bogey, Korda said: "Yeah, I just didn't really want to shoot 80, and I just kept making bogeys. My last two rounds in the U.S. Women's Open have not been good. I ended Sunday at Pebble I think shooting 81, and then today I shot 80.
"I'm human. I'm going to have bad days. I played some really solid golf up to this point. Today was just a bad day. That's all I can say."
Korda begins her second round alongside Japan's Nasa Hataoka and America's Megan Khang from the first hole at 1:58pm ET (6:58pm GMT) on Friday.
