Nelly Korda admits she ‘messed up’ in Women’s Open collapse

The American squandered a two-shot lead to lose the final major of the year to Lydia Ko

Korda regained her place as world number one in March of this year (Getty Images)

World number one Nelly Korda has admitted she “messed up” her chance of winning a second major of 2024 as she lost a two-stroke lead over the final five holes at the AIG Women’s Open.

Korda was closing in on her seventh win of the season – and second major win of the year, after a victorious Chevron Championship – as she began the par-five 14th hole at St Andrews, but a double-bogey put her back into a tie alongside Jenny Shin, Lilia Vu and eventual winner Lydia Ko.

A bogey on the 17th put Korda further behind, and she eventually finished two shots behind Ko. The New Zealander, who won gold at the Paris Olympics earlier this month, won her first major title in eight years and her third overall.

“Listen, it’s golf. I’m going to mess up and unfortunately I messed up over the weekend twice in two penalising ways coming down the stretch,” Korda told reporters afterwards.

“Theoretically that’s what kind of cost me the tournament but I played well. I played solid.

“Overall, I think I putted really well this week. I hit the ball really well with the conditions. Hopefully that is going to be trending in the right direction again,” she added.

Korda ended up finishing tied in second place, so she picked up the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award – given to the player with the best record across all five majors during the LPGA Tour season.

Ko, who currently sits 12th in the world rankings having been first as recently as last year, called her last few weeks “the most Cinderella-like story” after her latest win.

“It’s pretty surreal. Winning the gold medal in Paris a couple of weeks ago, it was almost too good to be true.

“I said to myself, ‘how is it possible for me to win the AIG Women’s Open?’ I’ve had the most Cinderella-like story the past few weeks.

“Of all the major championships, this one I’ve had the least amount of confidence, because I’ve had the least amount of experience on links and the results haven’t followed either. So to be holding this trophy right now, I can’t believe it.”