Golf’s Most Shocking Stories of 2024: Nelly Korda Makes a 10 at the U.S. Women’s Open

Korda, the heavy favorite, saw her hopes for a second major of the year dashed after her third hole in the first round.

Korda's bid to continue her hot streak ended quickly at the U.S. Women's Open. / Patrick Smith/Getty Images

As 2024 comes to a close, SI Golf’s writers and editors reflect on the year’s craziest stories.

In golf, a player can be on top of the world. But it only takes one hole to send them crashing back down. 

That’s a feeling Nelly Korda knows all too well. 

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Entering the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club, Korda was the clear-cut favorite. She had won six of her last seven starts, including five straight (the third LPGA player to notch that feat) highlighted by the Chevron Championship, the first major of 2024. 

The world No. 1 got off to a bumpy start with an opening bogey—but two holes later on the 161-yard par-3 12th (she started on the back nine), matters got drastically worse. 

Her tee shot found the back bunker, then her sand shot rolled to the front of the green and into the water. Playing her fourth shot from the other side of the hazard, Korda put that ball into the water. Then another. 

She dropped to her knees with her hands on her head in disbelief.  

Korda got her eighth shot on the green but missed a 10-footer. She holed out for a 10. 

The Florida native finished the first round with a 10-over 80.

“Not a lot of positive thoughts,” she said. “I just didn’t play well today. I didn’t hit it good. I found myself in the rough a lot. Overall, just a bad day in the office.”

Korda made an inspiring run on Day 2 and had a shot to make the cut, needing a birdie on the last. She made a bogey. 

It was her first missed cut since the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, nearly 11 months prior. 

She then missed her next two cuts and later, in October, suffered a neck injury. She would return to the winner’s circle, though, in the year’s second-to-last event. 

There was way more good than bad for the 26-year-old this year. But turbulence is part of golf—and Korda is thankful for all of it. 

“Honestly, it’s been a crazy year,” she said at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. “I’m grateful for all of it. I am grateful for the highs; grateful for the lows.”

Bob Harig: This was an odd, almost surreal mistake, one that she compounded by not simply figuring out a way to get the ball on the green and getting out of there. The fact that she missed two more cuts afterwards suggests that Korda had perhaps simply run out of energy after an amazing period of success.

Jeff Ritter: The only “10” I had expected to see in a Nelly Korda headline this year was when she inevitably won her 10th event of the season. She made it to seven. The U.S. Women’s was certainly a surprise, but in the end it was a mere blip in an epic season.

John Schwarb: Has a pre-tournament favorite ever had their hopes dashed so quickly? But Nelly was a pro’s pro: She was 8 over after three holes, then 2 over for the next 33.