SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — Xander Schauffele had his chance. Now it’s Nelly Korda’s turn.
Golf is still young in the Olympics since returning in 2016 after a 112-year hiatus, and it does not have a back-to-back gold medalist. Schauffele won gold at the Tokyo Games and was tied for the 54-hole lead at Le Golf National on Sunday until a final-round fade.
Korda is the favorite for the women’s competition after what has been a tale of two seasons. She was unbeatable for four months, tying an LPGA record with five straight victories, including her second major. That was followed by missing three straight cuts for the first time in her career.
“Hopefully trending,” is how she described her form Monday after playing 18 holes at Le Golf National with swing coach Jamie Mulligan at her side.
“The game of golf is a funny game,” Korda said. “Sometimes you feel on top of the world and in a matter of a couple seconds, you just feel like you’re on the bottom of the sea.”
Top of the world meant winning five in a row — the streak was stopped by Rose Zhang — and six out of seven. The bottom of the ocean was the 10 she made on her third hole of the U.S. Women’s Open for an 80 that led to a missed cut, and an 81 at the Women’s PGA Championship to miss another cut in a major.
Korda never gets too high when she’s winning and she didn’t seemed stressed about her bid to repeat as Olympic gold medalist. Given her background, in golf and sport, she knows better.
“I have gone through many, many situations where I played really bad and then all of a sudden, if I just continue working hard, and doing what I need to do, the results show after,” she said. “They may not show right now, but if I’m making small, little improvements here and there and I’m happy with the way my game is trending, at the end of the day, I know that I have what it takes to compete and to contend.”
Competing is in the blood of the middle child of one of the most athletic families in golf.
Her father, Petr, won the Australian Open in tennis in 1998. Her mother, Regina Rajchrtová, played on the WTA Tour and competed for the Czech Republic in the Seoul Games in 1988. Her older sister, Jessica, plays on the LPGA Tour, and younger brother Sebastian won his second ATP Tour title on Sunday and moved into the top 20 for the first time in his career.
Leave a Reply