Nelly Korda’s Neck Injury Doesn’t Stop Her After Jeeno Thitikul’s Strong Start
World No 1 Nelly Korda battled through a neck injury but is only four shots behind leader Jeeno Thitikul, who is seeking her first major title.
Jeeno Thitikul leads Minjee Lee by one shot after the opening day of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Texas as world No 1 Nelly Korda made par with a neck injury.
Korda is only four shots off leader Thitikul, who made four under, after hurting her neck during practice for the third major of the year during practice on Monday.
The American says while it does not affect her shots, she suffers pain “just with rotation” of her neck and it is hard to sleep comfortably.
“It’s better. Getting better every day, which is nice. Just because I injured it last year, whenever I do injure my neck it takes a little bit longer than normal,” said Korda.
“I kind of tweaked it before my round with Ariya (Jutanugarn) in Vegas this year, during the night I couldn’t move then, so thankfully it wasn’t as bad as that day. It just takes me like a week to kind of recover when I tweak my neck now.”
Korda late last year skipped two tournaments during the LPGA’s Asia swing because of a minor neck injury, and that loss to Jutanugarn in match play was in April.
Korda said earlier this week that her neck “went into a full spasm” after hitting a shot out of the rough during a practice round at the Fields Ranch East course at PGA Frisco on Monday, before skipping the champions dinner that night.
In the first round of the season’s third major, Korda had two birdies and two bogeys and was in the same group as world No 2 and leader Thitikul at four under 68.
“Overall I mean, even par to start the major. It was windier in the morning than I thought it would be,” said Korda.
“So it played a little tougher. I’m pretty happy with my first round in the conditions. “It was pretty windy. It was hot. It definitely takes a toll on you, the Texas heat, so I’m happy with my position. I haven’t even really looked at the leaderboard, to be honest.”
