Nelly Korda’s start to her second round Friday at the Atlanta Athletic Club was less than spectacular but once again, she personified the old saying — “It’s not how you start — it’s how you finish.”
That start gave no indication what was in store for Nelly on day two of the Women’s PGA Championship as she went on a final nine rampage that saw her shoot 29 coming home for a championship record-tying nine-under par 63.
It was the fifth 63 in tournament history and tied the course record at AAC. Her 29 on the front, her final nine of the day, also tied the lowest nine-hole score in championship history.
“I guess I just blacked out there,” Korda joked. Truth was she was totally dialed in and after missing the cut at the U.S. Open, has shown more determination since. It showed last week when she won the Meijer Classic with a 25-under par score.
“I mean, the shots I was hitting at the U.S. Open, I looked at (my caddie) and I’m like, ‘Have you ever seen this from me? And he’s like, ‘Nope.’ I just dialed in more on my irons and all the tendencies that I was making out at the U.S. Open, I was just pushing it out right and I wasn’t hitting any fairways,” Korda explained. “To hit fairways and to hit those straight iron shots is what’s different about these two events.”
Her 10-birdie effort on Friday certainly seemed like a lot of fun – and being ‘in the moment’ is the kind of vibe she’s trying to take into more rounds moving forward. Her admission prior to the tournament on how she was doing, mentally, caught the eye of multi-time major winner Bubba Watson.
He posted a Tweet Friday that said, in part, “Keep having fun! It’s just golf.”
“Some days it’s a lot easier than others, and some days you’re just not having a good day, honestly, and your mental game and everything is just bad,” admitted Korda. “But obviously (being happy) is the mindset I want to take into every single day. It’s a clean slate, honestly,” said Korda. “Just going out here and try to compete with the golf course, try to beat the golf course and see what kind of monster it is that day.”
Korda’s 63 put her at 11-under par at the halfway mark of the season’s third major. Fellow American Lizette Salas was just a shot back after back-to-back rounds of 67. Salas is the only player in the field who hasn’t had a bogey on her scorecards.
“I’m definitely satisfied. We came in with some goals and we’re reaching them,” said Salas. “I think overall my attitude has been pretty solid. It’s a major; it’s supposed to be tough. It’s supposed to test you in several different ways, and I think I’m handling it quite well, and back-to-back 67s, I’m not going to complain. I can go ahead and start analyzing my game and what could have happened, but at the same time I’ve done a lot of good things, and I think this is good momentum going into the weekend.”
Four shots back of Korda at seven-under par were Cydney Clanton (70-67), Alena Sharp (69-68) and Celine Boutier, who went out early and put up an eight-under par 64 that was the talk of the tournament until Korda put on her dazzling display.
