SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — Xander Schauffele had his chance. Now it’s Nelly Korda’s turn.
Golf is still young in the Olympics since returning in 2016 after a 112-year hiatus, and it does not have a back-to-back gold medalist. Schauffele won gold at the Tokyo Games and was tied for the 54-hole lead at Le Golf National on Sunday until a final-round fade.
Korda is the favorite for the women’s competition after what has been a tale of two seasons. She was unbeatable for four months, tying an LPGA record with five straight victories, including her second major. That was followed by missing three straight cuts for the first time in her career.
“Hopefully trending,” is how she described her form Monday after playing 18 holes at Le Golf National with swing coach Jamie Mulligan at her side.
“The game of golf is a funny game,” Korda said. “Sometimes you feel on top of the world and in a matter of a couple seconds, you just feel like you’re on the bottom of the sea.”
Top of the world meant winning five in a row — the streak was stopped by Rose Zhang — and six out of seven. The bottom of the ocean was the 10 she made on her third hole of the U.S. Women’s Open for an 80 that led to a missed cut, and an 81 at the Women’s PGA Championship to miss another cut in a major.
Korda never gets too high when she’s winning and she didn’t seemed stressed about her bid to repeat as Olympic gold medalist. Given her background, in golf and sport, she knows better.
“I have gone through many, many situations where I played really bad and then all of a sudden, if I just continue working hard, and doing what I need to do, the results show after,” she said. “They may not show right now, but if I’m making small, little improvements here and there and I’m happy with the way my game is trending, at the end of the day, I know that I have what it takes to compete and to contend.”
Competing is in the blood of the middle child of one of the most athletic families in golf.
Her father, Petr, won the Australian Open in tennis in 1998. Her mother, Regina Rajchrtová, played on the WTA Tour and competed for the Czech Republic in the Seoul Games in 1988. Her older sister, Jessica, plays on the LPGA Tour, and younger brother Sebastian won his second ATP Tour title on Sunday and moved into the top 20 for the first time in his career.
The Olympics have always held a special meeting. She recalls as a young girl how the entire family would gather around the television to watch the Olympics, summer and winter, a chance for them to watch “everyone compete and live out their dreams.”
Korda lived out hers at Kasumigaseki Country Club three years ago. She was bummed to not get the full Olympic experience at the Tokyo Games, delayed by one year by the COVID-19 pandemic with restrictions on going to other events.
But she is the only player who can differentiate between the value of a major championship victory and Olympic gold after she won both in the same year in 2021 — the Women’s PGA at Atlanta Athletic Club in June, Olympic gold in August.
The true meaning came on the podium for Korda, who goes about her business with a stoic face and languid, powerful swing.
“I didn’t really know what emotions I was going to have until I stood on the stage” she said. “As a kid, I watched so many athletes and all their raw emotions on that podium when their flag goes up and the national anthem (plays). And when I finally got to do it myself, there was a massive rush of emotions that go through me.”
There were tears. But what really stood out was the metric band she wore on her wrist.
“The highest my heart rate was all day was actually on the podium,” she said.
Yes, Korda has a pulse. And the last few months have shown she’s not a machine. What she finds out starting Wednesday in the opening round is whether she has the game to take on Lilia Vu, Jin Young Ko and home favorite Celine Boutier of France, all major champions.
There’s also Lydia Ko of New Zealand, looking to add gold to her collection of silver and bronze from the previous two Summer Games.
The Kiwi can only wonder if Korda is bent on giving the Americans another sweep of gold medals in the Paris Games, with Scottie Scheffler winning the men’s gold on Sunday.
Scheffler won four out of five in the spring, including the Masters, on the PGA Tour. Korda won five out of six, including a major.
“As a competitor and friend, it’s been really impressive to watch, and I’m sure she’s probably going to take a lot of inspiration from what Scottie Scheffler did yesterday winning the gold,” Lydia Ko said. “And I’m sure she’s going to put on a good show herself.”
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