There aren’t any photographs of Nelly Korda’s slimy, watery par save from Round 1 of the Amundi Evian Championship, but there is video.
Thursday, Korda began her round on the back nine. At the par-5 18th hole, the 23-year-old said she was between hitting a 6- or 7-iron for her second shot to the green. She chose to hit a 7-iron, not wanting to go long, but was surprised when the ball came up short of the putting surface and right on the water’s edge.
Full-field scores from the Amundi Evian Championship
Korda was able to get an eye and a club on her ball, so she took off her socks and shoes and waded into the pond. Submerged in water above her ankles, Korda splashed her third shot up, onto the fringe, and managed a two-putt to save par.
“I had a decent chance of getting it out on the green, so I just went for it,” Korda said after her round. “Better than taking a drop, that’s for sure.”
Korda said she’s never done something like that before in order to hit a shot, and based on her reaction afterwards, it might be the last.
“I must say, it’s very slimy on the bottom,” Korda said. “Does not feel very good.”
Korda opened with a bogey-free, 7-under 64 to sit one off the lead through 18 holes of the season’s fourth major championship.
One shot ahead of Korda and Brooke Henderson, also T-2, is Japan’s Ayaka Furue, who posted an 8-under 63 in the afternoon wave thanks to nine birdies.
World No. 1 Jin Young Ko and Australian Lydia Ko are at 5 under with three others, including amateur Yuna Nishimura.
2022 major winners In Gee Chun, Minjee Lee and Jennifer Kupcho sit at T-10 (4 under), T-39 (1 under) and T-64 (even), respectively.