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Nelly Korda shot 77 in the opening round of her title defense at the Chevron Championship. Some troubles on the green prompted an equipment change, and she has moved on to a new putter for round two.
The world number one made one birdie the entire 18 holes on Thursday and five bogeys. She was seen afterwards practising with a different putter to see if that was her problem. Korda hasn't started her second round, but she's tied for 115th and well below the cut line for the moment.
The American hit eight fairways and 11 greens in regulation, so her initial game was solid, but she had to take 33 putts to actually get the ball in the cup. She was visibly distraught after the round and, after talking with reporters immediately got on the putting green.
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She said via Golf Monthly:
“I’m going to go and practice and see where it takes me. I just have to work. I’m not hitting it well, so that’s about it.”
This is the third time in the last several months that Korda has shot poorly in a round at the Majors, famously shooting an 80 during the US Women's Open thanks to a 10 on a par-three. She also shot an 81 at the Women's PGA Championship, so this wasn't quite as disastrous.
Korda, however, does trail the leaders Haeran Ryu and Liu Yan by 12 strokes, so her title defense is off to an unfortunate start.
Nelly Korda knew early on about putting struggles
Nelly Korda needed an astonishing 33 putts to complete 18 holes on Thursday. This was something unexpected, but the American did know early on that she was struggling with her putter.
On Tuesday, in one of her pre-tournament pressers, she said via Golf.com:
“Just need my putter to click a little bit more to make those putts. I think that’s where it’s been lacking — the putts that I was making last year, I’m just not making as many this year.”
The 33 putts were more than her season average of a little over 29 putts per round. It was also nine more than Haeran Ryu, whose quality work on the greens helped her get to the lead.
Korda added:
“That’s just golf. I’ve gone through waves like this before, and if I just continue working at it, hopefully it does click.”
Nelly Korda won the Chevron Championship last year by shooting 13-under par. She beat Maja Stark by two strokes. To get back to that level of scoring and to threaten for a repeat win, she's going to have top quickly move on from a dismal round and perform better with her putting.
