Nelly Korda mounted a Sunday charge up the leaderboard early on the final day of the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, only to see the hot putter that propelled her there let her down midway through the day.
Korda came into the final round at Dundonald Links five strokes off the lead of Lottie Woad, the 54-hole leader, at 12-under overall. The Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1, who played in the penultimate group alongside Paula Reto and Hyo Joo Kim, was well-positioned to be the spoiler for Woad, the LPGA Tour’s newest member, who was looking to chase down her maiden title in her first start as a professional.
It didn’t take long for Korda to begin mounting her chase on Sunday. The two-time major champion opened with back-to-back pars before catching fire and making birdie on Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6 to close in on the Englishwoman atop the leaderboard.
Korda’s ball striking, which hadn’t performed to her liking during the third round and has let her down throughout the season, was clicking early on Sunday, along with her flat stick, which she’s changed throughout this season as well. But just as Korda began to find her flow midway through the front nine on Sunday, her struggles began.
On the par-4 7th hole, Korda’s game began to show cracks on a wet and windy day on the west coast of Scotland. A short miss to save par saw her give up her first dropped shot of the day. At holes eight and nine, Korda gave herself two opportunities to recover, but she was unable to capitalize after missing two short putts for birdie.
Those three consecutive misses would set the tone for the remainder of Korda’s round, as she carded back-to-back bogeys at the turn on the par-4 10th and par-3 11th holes to see any sort of hope of catching Woad evaporate. She was never able to get her day back on track, ultimately needing 31 putts on Sunday.
Korda faded over the remainder of the round, battling 25 mph wind gusts, and closed out her day with a birdie on the 72nd hole to cap off an up-and-down final round that saw her record six birdies, which were offset by five bogeys. The world No. 1 settled for a fifth-place finish in her debut at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, where she posted a round of 71 to close the week at 13-under, eight strokes off the pace of Woad, who won in Scotland in her first start as a member of the LPGA Tour.
“Obviously, my professional debut was not as in the limelight like her,” Korda said ahead of Sunday’s final round about Woad’s burst onto the biggest stage in the women’s game. “But for her to succeed and to be leading the event is pretty special.”
While Korda will have to keep waiting to hoist her first trophy of the season, she will take away as a consolation prize the experience of having gotten a fair dose of links golf ahead of her next start at the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl. It was the first time Korda’s schedule allowed her to tee it up at the Women’s Scottish Open ahead of the season’s final major championship.
“I’ve never been to Wales. I’ve never been to the golf course, so excited to check something new off the list,” Korda said about making the trip to the final major championship of the year. “Obviously, it’s always exciting to play in a major, so looking forward to a good week and hopefully we have some better weather than last year.”
