It was a surprisingly poor start to the tournament for the Tokyo gold medalist. Many were probably surprised when Nelly Korda was already three strokes over par after seven holes of the golf tournament at the 2024 Olympics. However, she then showed a more familiar picture in the second round. A flawless front nine, five strokes under par after eleven holes. She climbed up the leaderboard and was even tied for second place after another stroke gain. The gold medal was within reach again.
Golf at the 2024 Olympics: quadruple bogey for Nelly Korda
Then came the 16th and the tide turned quickly. Korda skillfully avoided the 15th, where many of the great golfers had already strayed into the water, but she got wet on the 16th. The ball, which was supposed to land directly on the green on the par 3, hit land on the other side of the water hazard, but bounced back unhappily. A penalty stroke for the American and she continued from the drop zone. She was unable to collect herself quickly enough and her third shot also fell short and landed in the bunker in front of the green. She was unable to control the ball properly from the bunker and it rolled far too far into the front green on the opposite side. Stroke 5 finally brought the ball within two meters of the hole. However, it took two more putts before the ball was finally sunk.
She recorded a total of seven strokes on the par-3. Four of the six strokes she had gained over the course of the day were lost again and the medals were a long way off. Even a world number one is not immune to a hole like this and she was also shaky on 17. A three putt cost her another shot. At least there was a final birdie for Korda on the 18th, but the round of 70 is far from what it could have been. She dropped back to T12, six strokes behind the leader Morgane Metraux. With two rounds still to play, Nelly Korda is far from being written off, but the path to a second gold has become much more difficult.