Nelly Korda captures LPGA lead in epic fashion; eyes another title at Liberty National

Nelly Korda had another gorgeous round at Liberty National, where she took the 54-hole lead at the Mizuho Americas Open.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — On a rainy and dreary day at Liberty National, the course next to New York Harbor, the biggest star in women’s professional golf shined the brightest.

Nelly Korda waltzed around, as she did at this year’s Met Gala, carding a bogey-free 7-under 65 to soar into the solo lead through 54 holes. She sits at 13-under par, holding a two-shot advantage over Australia’s Hannah Green heading into Sunday’s final round.

“Really solid day of golf off the tee, into the greens, and putting, too,” Korda said of her round.

“Took my chances where I could. Overall, I just played some solid golf in tougher conditions coming in.”

On her 10th hole, a strong wind emerged, blowing across Liberty National from off the water. Sprinkles began to fall, too, creating an uncomfortable and gloomy environment.

Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

But that did not phase Korda, who bundled up as soon as the temperature began to drop.

“For me, I always have a lot of layers. I feel bad for my caddie, but my golf bag is always super heavy because I make sure I’m over-prepared, not under-prepared, when it comes to that,” Korda explained.

“So making sure that the blood is flowing through my muscles and that I’m loose is a pretty big priority for me.”

Funny enough, Korda played better when she layered up, which is somewhat comical since the Floridian admitted to not liking the cold.

She wound up making a birdie at 10.

Then she made another birdie at the par-5 13th, almost chipping in for an eagle from off the green. A par at the scenic par-3 14th followed. But then she uncharacteristically missed the fairway on the tough par-4 15th, a challenging dogleg left that measures nearly 430 yards.

Her ball came to rest in a delicate lie in the rough, an inch off the fairway.

That did not phase her, however, as she produced her best shot of the day with her second.

“Sometimes you just get bad bounces or, I don’t know—once it went over the tree I obviously didn’t see where the ball ended up,” Korda said of her 15th hole on Saturday.

“It wasn’t a bad lie. I knew I was in between 7-iron and 8-iron. It was sitting down, and I knew that I would just have no spin on it. Since it was downwind, we went with an 8-iron, and I just hit it really good, and with no spin, it tumbled all the way to the back.”

After making her sixth birdie of the day at 15, Korda marched over to the short, drivable par-4 16th, which played only 246 yards on Saturday.

She laced a 5-wood into the heart of the green, leading to her seventh birdie of the round. Two more good looks followed on the 17th and 18th greens, but Korda could not get those to drop.

Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

Instead, she settled for a 65, a remarkable score considering how difficult things got down the stretch.

But Korda has been in this position plenty at the 54-hole mark of times before.

“Where I can take my opportunity, I will,” Korda said of her approach to going into Sunday.

“This golf course is quite tough, especially if the conditions get tougher, so I'm just going to take my chances where I can and see how it goes.”

Should she go on to win this week, it would mark her sixth victory of the season. She won five consecutive events earlier this year, as her streak ended last week at the Cognizant Founders Cup, where Rose Zhang prevailed.

But now she has a tremendous opportunity to return to the winner’s circle as the year of Nelly Korda continues to roll on.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.