‘Keep Making It Harder’: Angel Yin Rubs Salt in Nelly Korda & Co’s Wounds After Lancaster Nightmare

The first round of the 2024 US Women’s Open was unexpectedly difficult for Nelly Korda and her fellow pros. The 12th hole, in particular, proved the most challenging, even promoting pros like Andrea Lee and Allisen Corpuz to share their thoughts on the course’s difficulty. For Angel Yin, though, it was a different story!

At the season opener of this year’s LPGA at Hilton Grand Vacations, Yin withdrew due to a broken ankle. Now back on the greens, the pro displays a positive and confident attitude towards the major, as evidenced by her recent message.

Angel Yin believes Lancaster is the perfect course for the US Women’s Open

In the first round at Lancaster, Angel Yin recorded one birdie, four bogeys, and a double bogey. Consequently, the 27-year-old finished Thursday with a total of 75, 5-over par. Despite the underwhelming performance, Yin remains determined. Acknowledging the difficulty and thrill of the women’s major, she post the round and, despite her T69th start, stated that the course was “perfect”!

She highlighted that the status of a major tournament justifies the difficulty of the course, claiming that Lancaster, particularly the 12th hole, is something players should expect in a competition featuring some of the world’s best golfers. And given that only four golfers had an underpar round on day 1, she was certainly spot on with the course’s toughness.

“Perfect USGA course,” she said. “I hope they don’t pull back but keep making it harder. If we want easy, we can play mini-tours. This is the U.S. Open; we shouldn’t expect anything less.”

With this positive attitude on the greens, Angel Yin is no doubt aiming for a major victory this year. Although the outcome is still uncertain with only the first round completed, it will certainly be interesting to see how the subsequent rounds unfold, particularly for her and other big names like Nelly Korda, who also had a very rough start at the US Women’s Open.

What happened to Nelly Korda on Thursday?

With six victories in her last seven starts, expectations are undoubtedly high for the World #1 golfer. However, after Korda’s challenging first round, it’s tough to predict whether she can claim her third major title. On just her second hole of the day, the par-3 12th, Korda carded a 10—a septuple bogey, her worst score on any hole in a major.

Additionally, her tee shot landed in the sand bunker on the 161-yard 12th, the toughest hole on Thursday. The unfortunate events didn’t end there. She also carded two additional bogeys on the par-4 15th and the par-3 17th.

Overall, it was a disastrous round for her. In a press conference, she acknowledged her shortcomings, saying, “Honestly, I just didn’t play well today.” The first round left her tied for 137th with a total score of 80, 10 over par. And coming back from there on a course this tough will no doubt be an uphill walk!