U.S. Women’s Open storylines: Can Nelly Korda get again to profitable? How will Erin Hills play?

The oldest main championship identify and biggest handbag in ladies’s skilled golfing shall be at the line when the 80th U.S. Women’s Open tees off Thursday at Erin Hills Club in Erin, Wisconsin.

It’s the primary time Erin Hills is website hosting the Women’s U.S. Open, and the path recognized for its undulating fairways and vegetables that had been created by means of a glacier centuries in the past figures to offer one of the vital tricky assessments of the season for the sector’s very best golfers.

“It tests every part of your game,” two-time main champion Nelly Korda mentioned Tuesday. “It’s very demanding. It’s firm. It’s fast, as well. Even if you think you’ve hit it good, you can exhale when you see it stop. I would say even the weather plays a big role with the shots out here, with the putts.”

Here are one of the large storylines for the second one main championship of the season:

Can Nelly get going?

World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler wanted a couple of months to get going earlier than he gained two times at the PGA Tour this season, together with his 3rd main on the PGA Championship.

It has been the similar roughly season for global No. 1 golfer Nelly Korda at the LPGA Tour. A 12 months in the past, Korda had already gained six instances earlier than the second one main of the season.

This 12 months, she has but to raise a trophy in seven begins.

“Yeah, it’s been a very interesting year for me,” Korda mentioned Tuesday. “Definitely have had a bit of good and a bit of bad. Kind of a mix in kind of every event that I’ve played in. I would say just patience is what I’ve learned and kind of going back home and really locking in and practicing hard.”

It’s now not as though Korda hasn’t performed smartly this season. She had a top-25 end in all however one in all her begins, together with runner-up within the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions within the season opener. She tied for 5th in her final get started on the Mizuho Americas Open.

Korda ranks moment at the LPGA Tour in strokes received: general (2.40) and stale the tee (1.03) and is 9th in tee to inexperienced (1.59). She additionally ranks within the peak 25 in method (0.65) and placing (0.86).

She’ll be searching for a greater end result within the U.S. Open. She has 3 overlooked cuts, a tie for 8th and a tie for 64th in her previous 5 begins. Last 12 months at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Korda carded a 10 at the par-3 12th gap, her 3rd gap within the first spherical. She carded a 10-over 80.

Korda rebounded to put up an even-par 70 in the second one spherical however nonetheless overlooked the minimize.

“Oh, yeah, lots of ups and downs,” Korda mentioned. “I mean, it’s the biggest test in the game of golf. Definitely has tested me a lot. I love it.”

Korda will play the primary two rounds with England’s Charley Hull and Lexi Thompson. They’ll tee off on No. 1 at 2:25 p.m. ET on Thursday and on No. 10 at 8:40 a.m. on Friday.

“At the end of the day, this is why we do what we do is to play these golf courses in these conditions, to test our games in every aspect,” Korda mentioned. “Not even just our games, our mental [strength], as well. I enjoy it, and I’m excited to see what this week is going to bring.”

Ko eyeing profession Grand Slam

Lydia Ko can grow to be the 8th golfer in LPGA historical past to finish the profession Grand Slam if she wins the U.S. Women’s Open in her 14th take a look at. She has a couple of top-10 finishes within the match and overlooked her first minimize final 12 months.

Only 27, Ko has already gathered 3 main championship victories on the 2015 Evian Championship, 2016 Chevron Championship and 2024 Women’s British Open.

Ko is enjoying with protecting U.S. Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso and beginner Rianne Malixi within the first two rounds. They’ll get started at the No. 1 tee at 8:40 a.m. ET on Thursday and on No. 10 at 2:25 p.m. on Friday.

“I think as long as I’m playing, it’s always good to have a goal, so that when I’m working on things, I’m always going forward and not trying to think, ‘Oh, did I this, so who cares?'” Ko mentioned. “So it’s just more to just keep myself more motivated. Hopefully not, but even if I never win a U.S. Women’s Open, I don’t think I’m going to wake up from my sleep and go, ‘I never won.'”

Louise Suggs, Mickey Wright, Pat Bradley, Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb, Annika Sorenstam and Inbee Park gained 4 other majors of their profession. Webb is the one person who gained other majors in finishing the tremendous profession Grand Slam.

Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist, who gained the 2009 Women’s PGA Championship, 2017 Evian Championship and 2021 Women’s British Open, too can whole the profession Grand Slam this week.

Saso’s three-time take a look at

Saso will try to grow to be best the 7th golfer to win the nationwide championship thrice.

Betsy Rawls (1951, 1953, 1957, 1960) and Wright (1958, 1959, 1961, 1964) completed first within the U.S. Women’s Open 4 instances, whilst Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1948, 1950, 1954), Susie Maxwell Berning (1968, 1972, 1973), Hollis Stacy (1977, 1978, 1984) and Sorenstam (1995, 1996, 2006) gained thrice.

“I could call myself a two-time major champion, and better than that, two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion,” Saso mentioned of profitable final 12 months. “I think it’s a great tournament to have beside my name, and, I don’t know, maybe because I dreamed of winning this, and winning it twice is much better.”

Saso is already the one golfer to seize the Harton S. Semple Trophy whilst representing two other international locations. When Saso defeated Nasa Hataoka at the 3rd gap of a playoff on the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open on the Olympic Club in San Francisco, she represented the Philippines, the place she was once born.

Last 12 months, Saso was once enjoying for Japan, her father’s hometown, when she beat Japan’s Hinako Shibuno by means of 3 strokes with a 72-hole general of 4-under 276.

Saso had twin citizenship in each international locations earlier than having to resign her Filipino citizenship in 2022 below Japanese nationality regulation, which she was once required to do earlier than turning 22.

Erin Hills is a huge path

Erin Hills Golf Course, situated about 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee, is a par-72 path that may play 6,829 yards. It’s the second-longest path at the LPGA Tour thus far this season.

Erin Hills hosted the 2017 U.S. Open, which Brooks Koepka gained with a 72-hole general of 16-under 272.

It does not determine to play that simply this week, particularly if the wind blows. There’s a possibility of thunderstorms Friday with 10 to 20 mph winds. Forecasts name for sunny skies and 5 to 10 mph winds at the weekend.

“It’s definitely a really big course,” mentioned 2023 U.S. Women’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz. “I hit a lot more hybrids and woods than I would have wanted to into greens [during Monday’s practice round]. I think just any major, ball-striking is always really important. I think especially with the green complexes here [and] a lot of run-offs, just a few tight fairways that will definitely be key here.”

Erin Hills does not have a unmarried water danger, however there are 132 sand bunkers and 3½-inch fescue tough, which is able to make issues tough.

“It’s very demanding off the tee with all the bunkers,” Korda mentioned. “The bunkers are not easy. Sometimes you just don’t even have a stance in them because they’re so small. Then the shots into the greens and also the greens. Just an overall good test of your entire game.”

The United States Golf Association has trade tees to be had if the wind does not blow or the path will get rainy.

“We also keep a very close eye on firmness, and obviously speed, wet conditions, very windy conditions,” mentioned Shannon Rouillard, the USGA’s senior director of championships. “It’s really important that the test remains relative and appropriate to the conditions that we’re going to face, whether they’re wet or whether we’re going to experience some greater wind conditions.”