Nelly Korda explains what she saw before teeing off on hole 12 at US Women’s Open which did not help her

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Nelly Korda was unsurprisingly the favourite to lift the 2024 US Women’s Open trophy heading into the tournament.

The world number one headed to Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania with six wins from her last seven tour events.

That includes the Chevron Championship at the first major of the year, with Korda certain to have been full of confidence ahead of another major.

But that confidence was rapidly and brutally drained after just three holes of the US Women’s Open.

Beginning her first round on the 10th, the American opened with a bogey and entered the par-three 12th on one-over.

Nelly Korda notices issue ahead of 12th hole at the US Women’s Open

But a shocking turn of events followed, with Korda finding the water three times as she made a 10 on the par three, leaving fans completely stunned.

She has now explained exactly what happened in the build-up to one of her most disastrous moments on the golf course.

“We waited for like 25-30 minutes on that tee,” Korda said in her press conference, as per TenGolf. “I was in between a seven iron and a six iron, and I just didn’t really know what to hit.

“Obviously sometimes it’s not really good seeing the girls play in front of you, because Gaby [Lopez] came up short of the water and I think Ingrid [Lindblad] went into the water.

“It was just a tough day. I kind of teed it up behind the tee box a little one club length back, I hit a six iron and it just kind of penetrated through the wind and went into the back bunker.

“I had a leaf under my ball, so when I hit it, it kind of just rocketed through, couldn’t really do anything about that. Just hit some really bad chips over and over again.”

Can Nelly Korda produce a memorable comeback?

As witnessed over the years, nothing can be ruled out in golf, both in the women’s and the men’s game, particularly in majors.

But after her nightmare par-three 12th, Korda went on to card a 10-over 80 in the first round at Lancaster Country Club.

It leaves the world number one sitting tied-137th in the leaderboard, and subsequently in real danger of missing the weekend at the 79th US Women’s Open.

Golf writer Beth Ann Nichols backed Rose Zhang to rival Korda for glory before the competition got underway, but like the world number one, Zhang endured a disastrous opening round, finishing just one shot ahead on nine-over.