“Today was just a bad day,” Nelly Korda admitted after a disastrous round at the US Women’s Open. Given her five consecutive wins on the LPGA, the expectations for the world’s #1 golfer are incredibly high. Amidst all the scrutiny from fans over her poor performance, one young rising talent chose to vocalize her support for the LPGA pro.

In the first round at Lancaster, Nelly Korda carded a septuple bogey, scoring a 10, on par-3 12th—her worst performance on any hole in a major. She also hooked her tee shot into the sand bunker on the 161-yard 12th hole, the toughest hole. Asterisk Talley was among the many who had tuned in to watch the second women’s major and saw the whole incident unfold. The teenage prodigy conveyed a strong message during the press conference when asked, “Did you watch some of the early morning coverage this morning and did you know about Nelly’s 10?” 

The 15-year-old, like many, was quite astonished as she shared her initial response to Korda’s performance on the 12th hole: “I watched her 10 and 11, which was like early in the morning, I guess. Then I went to go get ready for my round, and then I got in the car, and when Nelly was off 11, she was 1-over, I think, and when I got in the car I was like, oh, did Nelly get back to even par? What happened?”

Given Korda’s performance this season, Talley acknowledged that she did not expect Korda to end up with a score of 10 on that fateful hole. However, she noted that even the #1 golfer isn’t immune to mistakes and empathized with the LPGA pro: “I tried to not let it get to me, but I was just like, that’s not really like Nelly. People don’t really think about people making mistakes like that, but it does happen to everybody. People make mistakes like that all the time.” 

In a post-round interview, Korda admitted to her shortcomings on Thursday, saying, “I just didn’t play really well today.” She also acknowledged, “Making a 10 on a par-3 hole definitely doesn’t do any good in the US Open.”

Although the #1 golfer is fully aware of her performance, the 12th hole at this year’s US Women’s Open is proving especially challenging. Is it just Korda? No, other pros share similar thoughts about that hole’s difficulty.

Are other pros sharing similar difficulty as Nelly Korda did on the 12th?

Apart from the fourteen-time LPGA Tour winner, another pro, Andrea Lee, also talked about the challenging 12th hole during a press conference after making a birdie on the same. When asked to describe the hole, Lee simply said, “Very tough hole. You’re so high up and the wind is kind of swirling a little bit.” Later, Allison Corpuz also shared similar sentiments, responding to “Elaborate on No. 12 and what happened.” She said, “Yeah, felt like I was just in between clubs off the tee and obviously can’t miss short, so I took the longer one and just bounced through the green a little.” 

She also described getting caught in the rough as she attempted a chip and contemplated using a putter. Regrettably, she bladed the shot into the water, resulting in a failed attempt to recover for a double bogey. After the first round, it’s clear that the 12th hole was particularly tough for Nelly Korda and other golfers. What do you think will happen in further rounds? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!