ERIN, Wis. — After firing her career low in a Women’s U.S. Open on Friday, a 5-under 67, Nelly Korda was asked if a win in the major would validate her career.
“Ask me on Sunday night,” she responded.
As of Sunday night we still don’t know as Korda was done in once again in the national open, this time by the steady play of Sweden’s newest major champion Maja Stark and a disastrous 30-second span on the back nine.
Stark shot a final-round 72 with 281 total a three-shot win over Korda. She was the third Swede to win the Women’s U.S. Open and captured a $2.4 million check, the largest in the women’s game.
Korda finished with a 1-under 71 and a 5-under-par 283 total, tied for second with Japan’s Rio Takeda.
MORE: Final results, payouts from the U.S. Women’s Open
The world No. 1, now 0-for-10 in the U.S. Women’s Open as a pro, entered the final round three shots behind Stark but cut the margin to one shot thanks to birdies on Nos. 7 and 8 with the crowd trying to will her to victory at sunny Erin Hills.
But at the par-3 13th, Korda hit a poor tee shot and three-putted for bogey, missing a 5-footer for par. Just 30 seconds later Stark, playing the par-4 11th, rolled in a 14-foot birdie putt and suddenly the lead grew to three shots over Korda and never went lower than two on a drama-free last several holes.
“Just a poor tee shot, but that’s what great about the U.S. Open—it tests all areas of your game,” Korda said. “Everything was really off today, but at the end of the day, you just to have to make some putts.”
The win for Stark, a former Oklahoma State star, came as a bit of a surprise as she had missed three cuts this year and was T44 in the first major of the year, the Chevron Championship.
“You know, the ball is round and the game is hard,” Stark said. “Last week my confidence was so low, this just feels surreal.”
She is the 14th winner in the last 18 years to hail from outside the U.S.
Korda had her chances to get closer on the back nine Sunday, the best coming at the par-5 14th when she used her driving-distance advantage to set up an eagle putt which would have cut the deficit to a single shot. But she missed and had to settle for birdie.
She missed two more birdie putts on 15 and 16 and settled for a bogey after a poor chip behind the 18th green.
“You know I have a very complicated relationship with the U.S. Open, and it’s still complicated,” she said after her highest finish. “This is a heartbreaker but I will take the good things I did this year.”
Her next shot at a major comes later this month at the KPMG PGA Championship at the new PGA Frisco Fields Ranch East course in Frisco, Texas.
“I just have to build off this,” she said.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nelly Korda Has Her Best U.S. Women’s Open Finish, but That’s Little Consolation.
