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 stable 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 be nicely 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, should you don’t hit it into the fairways, it sinks down into the tough. These greens are small and really, very undulated.”

Everybody has referred to as Lancaster Nation Membership a ‘true main championship check,’ a sentiment that Korda echoed.

“It’s going to check each side 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. If you happen to make a few errors right here and there, typically it will possibly get away from you, however it can check each side 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 shifting any filth to color the masterpiece that’s Lancaster Nation Membership.

Jeff Marsh/USGA

As such, elevation adjustments create uneven lies, which means a participant should have the power 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 earth 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 positioning 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 believe that is truly essentially the most assured I’ve come into a significant,” Inexperienced admitted.

“It looks like I don’t need to work on an excessive amount of coming into a significant, which is good. I don’t know what it’s. I want I might have this kind of feeling each week that I tee it up, however it simply feels actually stress-free 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 angle will assist her win her second profession main championship.

Nonetheless, loads of others can take dwelling essentially 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 best 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 nicely 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, however a win this week would shock no one.

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 all the time performed usually nicely 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.

“Understand that pars are good; pars are your pals. 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 title, 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 Event of Champions.

Minjee Lee, one other two-time main champion, stands out as nicely and has confirmed herself on the largest 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 as a result of a again damage.

Nonetheless, regardless of this championship’s deep discipline, the largest 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 largest star in girls’s golf to win the largest event on one large, stunning golf course.

Give me Korda in a thriller.

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. You’ll want to take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.