U.S. Girls’s Open: Nelly Korda vs. LPGA at historic Lancaster

Nelly Korda arrives in Central Pennsylvania with an enormous highlight shining brightly on her.

She has received six of her final seven occasions, and a win on the U.S. Girls’s Open this week would mark her third profession main title and second of the season.

“I’ve positively performed some actually strong golf,” Korda admitted.

Certainly, she has.

However one other victory would ship shockwaves throughout the golf world, provided that this event stands above all of the others in girls’s golf.

Korda is aware of that.

She can also be effectively conscious that this golf course presents a unique problem, not like many different programs LPGA Tour gamers have seen.

“This golf course is a beast,” Korda added.

Picture by Sarah Stier/Getty Photos

“Off the tee, when you don’t hit it into the fairways, it sinks down into the tough. These greens are small and really, very undulated.”

Everybody has known as Lancaster Nation Membership a ‘true main championship take a look at,’ a sentiment that Korda echoed.

“It’s going to check each facet of your golf recreation and even your psychological recreation as a result of it’s a significant championship,” Korda defined.

“You’ll be able to’t get forward of your self; get misplaced within the second. For those who make a few errors right here and there, generally it will possibly get away from you, however it can take a look at each facet of your recreation on the market this week.”

The course itself requires size, one thing Korda has.

It additionally forces the participant to work the ball in each instructions, as no two holes run in the identical path. Korda can do this, too.

No two holes have the identical form and route, both—a elementary attribute of a William Flynn design. Plus, this picturesque structure options drastic elevation adjustments and spectacular vistas. Flynn used the pure panorama of the Central Pennsylvania hills and the Conestoga River for the routing, barely transferring any dust to color the masterpiece that’s Lancaster Nation Membership.

Jeff Marsh/USGA

As such, elevation adjustments create uneven lies, that means a participant will need to have the flexibility to hit all types of iron photographs.

Sure, Korda can do this, too, as evidenced by her main the LPGA in greens in regulation this season.

However the top-ranked feminine participant on the planet just isn’t good. No person is. And if she goes to win at Lancaster this week, she might want to maintain the ball in play, one thing she has struggled with at instances this season.

Korda ranks 71st on the LPGA in driving accuracy at a 74.2% clip.

Nonetheless, at Liberty Nationwide, the location of her final victory, Korda had hassle off the tee at instances throughout her last spherical. But, she prevailed by one stroke over Hannah Inexperienced, regardless of admitting afterward that she had her “C and D recreation” that day.

Talking of Inexperienced, Inexperienced arrives in Lancaster as the one different LPGA participant to win a number of instances this season.

“I feel that is truly probably the most assured I’ve come into a significant,” Inexperienced admitted.

“It seems like I don’t should work on an excessive amount of coming into a significant, which is sweet. I don’t know what it’s. I want I might have this sort of feeling each week that I tee it up, nevertheless it simply feels actually enjoyable out right here at Lancaster.”

Stress-free just isn’t a phrase many would use to explain this golf course, but when that’s how Inexperienced feels, good for her. Maybe that easy-going perspective will assist her win her second profession main championship.

However, loads of others can take dwelling probably the most prestigious trophy in girls’s golf.

Rose Zhang not too long ago received the Cognizant Founders Cup in New Jersey however then withdrew from the Mizuho Americas Open due to an sickness. Regardless of that, she believes her recreation is trending in the fitting path, and one could be silly to dismiss the younger 20-year-old this week.

Atthaya Thitikul, Brooke Henderson, and Ayaka Furue have all performed effectively this season, too, as all three of those gamers have seen their names flow into close to the highest of leaderboards. None of those three gamers have damaged by way of, however a win this week would shock no person.

Picture by Scott Halleran/Getty Photos

However Henderson is a reputation to be careful for, contemplating she completed within the high 5 on the U.S. Girls’s Open in 2015, the primary time Lancaster Nation Membership hosted this occasion.

“I prefer it when it’s robust. I really feel like I’ve at all times performed typically effectively at main championships as a result of it’s actually robust, and you’ve got to have the ability to grind it out,” Henderson defined.

“Notice that pars are good; pars are your mates. Once you get birdies, you may higher capitalize. And simply making an attempt to take advantage of out of every day.”

Like Korda, Henderson has two main championships to her identify, along with her most up-to-date triumph coming on the 2022 Evian Championship.

One other participant with two profession majors is Lydia Ko, who claimed her twentieth LPGA title this previous January on the Hilton Grand Holidays Match of Champions.

Minjee Lee, one other two-time main champion, stands out as effectively and has confirmed herself on the most important phases. Lee received the 2022 U.S. Girls’s Open at Pine Needles in North Carolina.

However a bevy of European Solheim Cup stars have arrived in Lancaster able to steal Korda’s thunder. England’s Charley Hull and Celine Boutier of France can win. So, too, can Madelene Sagstrom and Linn Grant of Sweden.

This championship is loaded with expertise, though Lilia Vu, who received two majors final season, needed to withdraw attributable to a again harm.

However, regardless of this championship’s deep area, the most important storyline getting into the 2024 U.S. Girls’s Open is outlined by one query: Nelly Korda or the sector?

It’s a tough query.

However I’ll take the most important star in girls’s golf to win the most important event on one huge, lovely golf course.

Give me Korda in a thriller.

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By way of. Be sure you take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as effectively.