Golf

Nelly Korda: I’ll have to tame ‘beast’ of a course to win US Women’s Open

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

Nelly Korda is a red-hot favourite to win back-to-back majors in the US Women’s Open (Matt Rourke/AP)
Nelly Korda is a red-hot favourite to win back-to-back majors in the US Women’s Open (Matt Rourke/AP) (Matt Rourke/AP)
By Phil Casey, PA Golf Correspondent

Nelly Korda believes she will have to tame a “beast” of a course to maintain her incredible run of form and win the US Women’s Open.

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

The world number one has beaten a combined total of 883 players in that stretch, losing to just six by finishing seventh in the Cognizant Founders Cup and is 74 under par for her six strokeplay tournaments.

Korda’s dominant run includes her second major victory in the Chevron Championship but she is expecting a tough test in Philadelphia, with the course revised and lengthened to a par-70 of 6,583 yards since it last hosted the US Open in 2015.

“It’s a beast of a golf course,” said Korda, who was not in the field nine years ago.

“Off the tee, if you don’t hit it into the fairways, it sinks down into the rough. These greens are small and very, very undulated.

“It’s going to test every aspect of just your golf game and even your mental game because it’s a major championship.

“You can get ahead of yourself, get lost in the moment. If you make a couple of mistakes here and there, sometimes it can get away from you, but it’s going to test every aspect of your game out there this week.

“Visually it looks so much shorter than it is. There’s bunkers that you see that you think you’re going to carry that you end up maybe 10 yards short of.

Nelly Korda hit out of a bunker on the first hole during a practice round for the US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club (Matt Rourke/AP)
Nelly Korda hit out of a bunker on the first hole during a practice round for the US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club (Matt Rourke/AP) (Matt Rourke/AP)

“The rough is very thick around the greens too. I think they’ve cut the grass around the greens so that, with the false fronts, it comes all the way down to the back where it’s a little thicker.

“Obviously I go into every week wanting to win, but there is a sense that sometimes that’s not realistic.

“For me, I need to give 100 per cent of myself every single day to, not just my golf,(but) my family, my workouts, life outside of golf. For me, that’s the number one thing for me.”