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Nelly Korda Lays Ground Work for USA Gold Medal Sweep

By Christian Paszko

KAWAGOE, JAPAN - AUGUST 04: Nelly Korda of Team United States plays her shot from the fourth tee during the first round of the Women's Individual Stroke Play on day twelve of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Kasumigaseki Country Club on August 04, 2021 in Kawagoe, Japan. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
KAWAGOE, JAPAN - AUGUST 04: Nelly Korda of Team United States plays her shot from the fourth tee during the first round of the Women's Individual Stroke Play on day twelve of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Kasumigaseki Country Club on August 04, 2021 in Kawagoe, Japan. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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Nelly Korda got off to a solid start to her Olympic competition Tuesday, firing a four under 67 in her first round. She is currently just one shot back behind Madeline Sagstrom of Sweden after the first round.

The 23 year-old from Bradenton, Florida knows how much pressure is on her to perform. She is ranked #1 in the world after all. She’s come in as the betting favorite to Kasumigaseki, but there’s more layers to the pressure than just that.

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Nelly and her sister Jessica were at Kasumigaseki preparing for their first round on Sunday as fellow countryman Xander Schauffele was grinding out the last few holes, and making the clutch shots needed to save par and secure the first individual Olympic gold medal in golf since 1900.

Jessica said, “I think we’re really feeling it for him, it was just so clutch coming down the stretch and that last hole and with the putt and everything, that it’s bigger than us and golf.”

That pressure was always going to be there for Nelly. Top ranked player, winning her first major, the Women’s PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, this year. Schauffele winning gold last week just increases that, to win for your country.

There definitely is one striking parallel between Korda and Schauffele, even after just one round. Both players left shots out on the course in round one. Nelly Korda had some trouble adjusting to the speed of the greens. She had left a number of lag putts considerably short, especially early on.

Korda’s front nine was inconsistent. She bogeyed the 2nd, birdied the 3rd, bogeyed the 4th, then birdied 5,6 and 8. She would settle down and go bogey free on the back nine. Xander similarly had two bogies on the front nine, and none on the back en route to a -3 first round.

Next. Olympic Golf: Winners and Losers from Japan. dark

Recent history would tell us that he’s on a gold medal track, it worked out for Xander just fine. Nelly Korda does have a major championship under her belt though. She knows how to close it out in big moments, and if it comes down to it, I have every reason to believe that she will get it done.

Nelly Korda has as good a chance as any to win the gold in Women’s Individual Stroke Play, you know the South Koreans will also make some noise but they’ll have to pry it from the cold, dead hands of the USA. Korda will not go quietly into the scorching Japanese heat in the land of the rising sun.

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