Nelly Korda Leads By 3 With 18 Holes Remaining in Olympic Golf Competition

American wasn't at her best, but grinds to a 2-under 69 to stay ahead of India's Aditi Ashok.

TOKYO -- Nelly Korda survived the 18th hole in Friday’s third round, but that is pretty much all that you can say about the American's ho-hum 2-under 69 in intense heat in Round 3. But she is 15 under par and holds a three-shot lead going into Saturday’s final round of the Women’s Olympic golf at Kasumigaseki Country Club.

Sitting at 12 under, three shots back, is India’s Aditi Ashok. Four others are 10-under and five shots behind, including the Rio Olympics silver medalist, New Zealand's Lydia Ko. She's joined by Hannah Green from Australia, Emily Kristine Pedersen from Denmark and Japan’s Mone Inami.

It was always going to be hard for Korda to back up the spectacular 9-under 62 she shot in Thursday's second round, with her only blemish a double-bogey 6 on the 18th to tarnish a record-breaking round. So, expectations should’ve been tempered to some extent, but Korda was sloppy, and the round turned into more of a survival test on a golf course she seemed to own one day earlier. What was Korda most happy about when it was over?

“That I can go inside and eat,” she said after an afternoon in 100-degree heat. “And then go and work on my irons. Probably that's what I'm most happy about right now.”

On Friday Korda did all her damage in the first six holes, with three birdies to move to 16 under and maintain the four-shot lead that she held overnight.

The 24-year-old’s momentum shifted with bad chip on the par-5 8th hole, which led to her only bogey of the day. She's made just four bogeys through 54 holes.  

“I mean it was very upsetting that I bogeyed a par 5, there's something inside of me when I bogey a par 5 that I just get so frustrated about because I shouldn't be doing that,” Korda said. “But, no, I mean I kept telling myself that there's more opportunities ahead.”

But from the 8th hole on, Korda seemed to struggle while displaying frustration after several shots. Her iron game, which started to become shaky on her back nine on Thursday, continued to be her nemesis, but she made the par-saving putts when she needed them. 

“I didn't have a really good back nine, I was kind of spraying it all over the place," Korda said. "I had some testy par putts, but made all pars and I fought really hard to stay in it really or ahead of it.”

Korda said she fought hard to keep the rest of the field at bay and in the end lost only one shot of her lead to India’s Aditi Ashok, who shot 68.

“She's a really solid putter,” Korda said of Ashok, with whom she'll be paired for the final round. “Like, she's a sneaky player. She putts incredibly well. She rolls it really nicely and there's this kind of confidence she has on the putting green. She has some kind of swag on the putting green, and she owns it, she does well on the putting green.”

Korda must credit her putter for her current lead. She changed grips from conventional to left-hand low at the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in June, and she's been solid this week while ranking in the top 10 in strokes gained at 3.229. But Ashok leads that category at 9.008.

“I feel way more confident over it,” Korda said of the new putter stroke. “I know that my chest and my arms move more together, and I just feel like there's less room for mistakes for me with left hand low.”

Korda said she has been calm all week, except for a chip from the back of the 18th green on Friday that she dropped to within 3 feet for a tap-in par. 

“I've tried to stay as present as possible,” Korda said. “I'm really working on that this year, just to take it shot by shot and stay present and not to look too far ahead or kind of go back on mistakes that I've made in the past.”

Playing the golf course while keeping track of pursuers is hard enough, but Saturday may be also trickier as the weather forecast calls for storms. If the field doesn't finish on Saturday, the plan is to continue Sunday to complete the round.

But Sunday's forecast is even worse, meaning there is a chance that the current 54-hole standing will eventually be final. But Korda isn't planning for that scenario.

“There's still 18 more holes to go, there's still a lot that can happen,” Korda said. “Today I wasn't hitting it well and just because I was making those par putts today it may be different or tomorrow could be different, you never know. So, I try to remind myself, even though I think about (a gold medal), I quickly shake my head and I'm like, no, no, it's not there yet. We're not there. We still have a lot, a long way to go.”

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