U.S. Women’s Open: Nelly Korda misses cut but redeems herself on 12

Nelly Korda’s shocking 10 on Thursday reverberated around the golf world, but also ended her bid for a second straight major championship.

Korda’s septuple bogey on the par-3 12th dropped her to 8-over par thru 3 holes, which proved too large of a deficit to overcome. She went on to shoot a 10-over 80 on Thursday, then carded an even-par 70 on Friday to miss the U.S. Women’s Open cut by two.

But unlike Thursday, the highlight of Korda’s round on Friday came at the now infamous 12th hole. She made three birdies on the front nine, an impressive feat given the circumstances, but nothing could compare to the drama that unfolded on 12.

Korda hit her tee shot onto the front part of the green, and her ball started to roll back down the slope, with nothing but the creek in its sights. Yet, Korda’s shot somehow found the one smidge of rough before the water, which stopped her ball from finding the stream again.

“It’s definitely not one of my favorite holes,” Korda said after.

“I actually hit my iron shot really bad. I hit it chunky, and thankfully it held up.”

Her second shot did not come out great, but at least it did not find the water.

“I was kind of in a really fluffy, weird, grassy lie,” Korda said.

“It almost felt like Bermuda fluffy, so I just tried to jab at it knowing it was uphill.”

She then faced an uphill putt from 25 feet to the back-left hole location.

“I actually thought I missed the putt, but the golf gods kind of made it go to the left, and I made it,” Korda added.

“It was nice to make a par. I wanted to make a birdie to get my revenge on that hole, but par will do.”

After that putt dropped, Korda appeared to have muttered, “F*** you,” while cheekily flailing her arms. That summed up her feelings about the 12th hole perfectly.

But unfortunately for Korda, she will head home early.

Korda last missed a cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol one year ago, an impressive streak for the top player in the world. Since then, Korda has rattled off six wins—including a record-tying five straight—all of them coming in 2024. Her last victory came two weeks ago at Liberty National, where she won the Mizuho Americas Open.

And yet, if Korda even made a double bogey at the 12th hole on Thursday, she would have made the weekend with room to spare.

Nevertheless, golf is a funny game, often leading many to describe it with the word Korda used on the 12th green. That, of course, summed up her 2024 U.S. Women’s Open perfectly.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.