Nelly Korda 'poor in all aspects,' her chance of six straight all but crushed
Her chance at six straight LPGA victories all but crushed, Nelly Korda was honest in assessing her performance Saturday at the LPGA’s Cognizant Founders Cup.
“Yeah, it's just kind of poor in all aspects,” said Korda, who bogeyed four of her first nine holes and shot 1-over 73 to fall well off the pace set by leader Madelene Sagstrom. “Yesterday was good in everything and today was poor in everything, so that's just pretty much golf for you. Yeah, just made too many kind of stupid, silly mistakes, which was unfortunate because [the leaders] were playing so well. So, now there is just a massive gap.”
The gap between Korda and the lead, just four shots at the start of the day, is now 11, as Sagstrom fired a 66 to reach 19 under, where she’s a shot clear of her fellow 36-hole co-leader, Rose Zhang, who carded a third-round 67. Sei Young Kim and Gabi Ruffels are tied with Korda for third.
Korda missed just three fairways and four greens at Upper Montclair Country Club in Cliffton, New Jersey, similar tee-to-green statistics as Sagstrom. However, Sagstrom struck 28 putts while Korda needed 34 putts to complete her third round.
“If you're not playing well out here, it just feels like everything is tumbling down,” Korda said.
Korda’s wins during her record-tying streak (Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam also won five straight tournaments during their LPGA careers) include the Chevron Championship three weeks ago, Korda’s last start before this week.
Her only result that hasn’t been a win this year was her T-16 at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
“I think I've played really good golf the past couple months,” Korda said. “I'm human, so I'm going to have bad days. I'm not going to feel 100% out here mentally, physically, or whatever, but I'm going to give it my all. It was just one of those days where it felt like a constant battle and didn't really play too well, but I fought until the end.”
