Nelly Korda revealed what happened on the “Road Hole” 17th, following her round Women’s Open title shot at St. Andrews

World No. 1 Nelly Korda made birdies at 5, 7, 9 and 10 to vault past everyone and take a two-shot lead, with fellow Americans Lydia Ko and Lilia Vu trailing behind and on the verge of falling out of contention.

At the “Road Hole” 17th, Korda’s second shot found the dreaded front-left bunker. She escaped cleanly but had to play away from the hole to do so. She was then faced with a mid-range putt for par. She left that putt short, dropping to five under, two shots behind clubhouse leader Ko.

“I had to hit right of it. I was a little too close to like the back edge [of the bunker on 17] where I’ve had one of those where you think you can get it, but you swing and miss and you hit the top of the bunker,” Korda said. “Instead of doing that, I took my medicine and went a little right. Hit the putt really good but just didn’t have enough speed.”

She would need to hole-out for eagle 18 to tie, but she could only manage a par to finish in a tie for second at five under. Despite yet another disappointing finish at a major tournament, Korda was able to take some positives from the week.

“Listen, it’s golf. I’m going to mess up and unfortunately, I messed up over the weekend twice in two penalizing ways coming down the stretch,” she said. “Theoretically that’s what kind of cost me the tournament but I played well. I played solid. I even fought after that. I’m going to take that into the next coming events.”