Nelly Korda Faces Mental Challenge at U.S. Women’s Open

The game's top player is trying to win her second straight major and keep a shot at history alive.

Nelly Korda won the first major of the year. / Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

A player once told USGA CEO Mike Whan she was never more nervous than when she closed the trunk of her car before teeing it up at the U.S. Women’s Open. 

This week, Nelly Korda will feel those same nerves as she tries to win her second straight major and keep the potential of a “Nelly-Slam” alive. 

“When you show up at a U.S. Open, you want this one so bad that you have to fight that,” Whan told Sports Illustrated. “[Korda], like 155 other players, will have to fight not just the physical part of the game, but the mental part that comes with wanting to win it so bad. 

Korda enters this week’s U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club as the overwhelming favorite to win the title, with +350 odds at Bet365 Sportsbook. The next closest is Rose Zhang at +1800.

Korda won the Chevron Championship in April, her fifth straight win at the time and second major overall. Since then she finished T7 at the Cognizant Founders Cup and won the Mizuho Americas Open. Korda is trying to become the first player since Inbee Park in 2013 to win the first two majors of the women’s golf season. 

There’s reason to believe she can. 

Korda has won six times on Tour this year in eight starts. She ranks first on the LPGA in greens in regulation (75.99%) and third in putts per GIR (1.74), important factors toward winning the U.S. Women’s Open. 

Her biggest challenge could come off the tee. She’s 71st on Tour in driving accuracy (74.19%), which could prove problematic at Lancaster, a course featuring thick rough and small, fast greens. 

“You're not going to tackle this golf course from the rough,” Whan said. “The greens aren't big enough and they're not slow enough to come from the high stuff and control the ball. 

“There will be a lot of club cleaning and brain cleaning at the end of each day because you'll have to think your way around a really tough golf course.” 

Korda has been open about how important the mental side of her game has been during her recent hot stretch, telling No Laying Up, “I've always said that staying in my own little bubble really, really helps me. Not getting too distracted or lost in something that isn't really what I want to be lost in.”

This week, that distraction could be the conversation around her winning the grand slam. The women’s tour has five grand slams per year and a grand slam is considered winning four in a row. Winning five in a row is considered a “Super Grand Slam,” though if Korda did that it would likely be known as the Nelly Slam.  

“I've known Nelly since I was the commissioner [of the LPGA] and what I’d say about Nelly is she’s not a formulaic golfer. Her game travels to any kind of course,” Whan said. “She’s certainly going to be the favorite walking in here, but the U.S. Open changes things. 

“We want to test your physical skills as well as your mental skills. We want you to be tested.” 

That test starts the moment she closes the trunk of her car.

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