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GAINESVILLE, Va. — As Nelly Korda lined up her method shot on the par-5 14th at Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership on Friday afternoon, the end result of her four-ball match was in little doubt. At 5 up with 5 holes to play, she and Megan Khang had been all however assured of a victory. The one suspense left was how Korda would punctuate her day’s play.
What adopted was an exclamation level.
Korda lofted a hybrid excessive and out to the correct of the tucked pin and watched as her ball drifted again towards the flagstick. Her ball dropped from the sky proper subsequent to the outlet, taking just a few hops earlier than stopping 12 toes behind the cup. A number of moments later, she rolled within the eagle putt — her second in three holes — to shut out her 6-and-4 win over Georgia Corridor and Leona Maguire.
“We’ve bought world No. 1,” U.S. captain Stacy Lewis mentioned. “And it’s very useful when she performs effectively.”
Korda has been ranked as the highest participant within the ladies’s recreation for the whole thing of 2024 — and on Day 1 on the Solheim Cup, she performed prefer it.
Over the course of two periods — foursomes within the morning and four-balls within the afternoon — Korda gained two full factors for Crew USA. She and teammate Alisen Corpuz dispatched of Charley Hull and Esther Henseleit 3 and a pair of within the first match of the day earlier than Korda returned within the leadoff spot for the afternoon session en path to a 6-2 American benefit after Day 1.
In line with the stats crew for Crew USA, Korda gained 7.5 strokes on the sector throughout her afternoon four-ball match through which she went eight beneath by 14 holes.
“It’s the best [the stats team has] ever seen a single session that they’ve labored,” Lewis mentioned. “Fairly spectacular this afternoon.”
Of the 30 holes Korda performed on Friday, she gained 16. In line with Elias Sports activities Bureau, that quantity is probably the most holes gained over a single day within the Solheim Cup since at the very least 2015. The second-most in that timeframe was 15, by her sister, Jessica, in 2019.
Korda was particularly dynamic on the 4 par-5s in the course of the two Friday periods as she gained every of the eight she performed on the day, the final of which was the eagle on the 14th that despatched the group on the encompassing amphitheater right into a frenzy.
“I feel you form of thrive off of the crowds,” Korda mentioned.
When she and Khang teed off of their four-ball match, they made it a degree to have interaction the spectators and set the tone for the People within the afternoon. The perfect-friend duo did that — after which some — by dancing, cheering and birdieing their approach across the course all afternoon lengthy.
“To form of get the group going within the afternoon was so, so enjoyable and one thing that I’ll bear in mind for the remainder of my life,” Korda mentioned. “It simply places like just a little little bit of an exclamation level attending to do it with Megan too within the afternoon.”
Added Khang: “Nelly and I, our friendship goes again to Junior Solheim Cup days — that’s how we bought actually shut. Ever since that pairing again then I do know we needed to play on the precise Solheim Cup staff as companions.”
Korda and Khang performed on the profitable aspect of that Junior Solheim Cup staff again in 2015, however appearances as teammates within the precise Solheim Cup haven’t been fairly so fruitful. The duo has not performed on a profitable staff of their three cups collectively, most just lately final summer time at Finca Cortesin as Crew USA tied with Crew Europe.
“We bought some unfinished enterprise,” Korda mentioned.
If there have been ever a yr for Crew USA to journey its thoroughbred celebrity to victory, it’s this one. Korda’s 2024 season has been a historic one as she notched six wins, together with a significant, over the primary 5 months of the yr. And though she’s not gained a event since early summer time, her play on the opening day of the Solheim Cup reminded us that when she’s hovering at high velocity, there’s no one who can catch her.