MAINEVILLE, Ohio — Nelly Korda struggled to get out of bed Thursday morning. Solheim Cup fatigue didn’t affect her golfing prowess, a bogey-free 67 at the Kroger Queen City Championship that left her two strokes behind Ashleigh Buhai.
Korda and Leona Maguire, who also shot 5-under 67, are among the 11 players who competed in the Solheim Cup last week and returned straight to action at TPC River’s Bend.
Buhai, a former Women’s Open champion from South Africa who is not playing in the Solheim Cup and was taking a few weeks off after an injury-plagued season, made eight birdies for her 7-under 65, which put her one stroke ahead of Jeeno Thitikul and Yan Liu.
“It shows that rest is just as important,” Buhai said. “I know that if I give myself five days to warm up, with my coach there, we did a good job, and yeah, it was nice to see it pay off today.”
At least Korda had the afternoon to sleep after her early start. She went 3-1 in her matches last week at the Solheim Cup as the Americans defeated Europe for the first time in seven years.
“I’m looking forward to the all-day-in-bed atmosphere today. It was definitely tough waking up this morning, but I like competing and I’m excited to be here,” Korda said. “Anyone who played last week is going to be tired. I’m just trying to take it one step at a time, know my energy level isn’t the best, but I’m still motivated.”
She drew her motivation not so much from her five birdies, but from the fact that she had a clean card.
“There’s just no better feeling than minimizing your mistakes, or not making any mistakes at all,” Korda said. “If you can play a round without bogeys, it motivates you, and hopefully I can carry that energy into the next three days.”
Maguire played only two matches last week, having played all five matches in her previous two outings. She was unhappy about being sat out, especially after easily beating Ally Ewing (4 and 3) in singles.
But perhaps there was an advantage too.
“The last few Solheims I’ve played five games, I was exhausted after the Solheim,” she said. “So nice to be a little bit fresher again.”
After two matches in the Solheim Cup, Leona Maguire is back at Kroger Queen City
Maguire, who played just two matches last week at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, opened in 67.
Korda and Maguire were part of a large group of 67 that included Lydia Ko, who last played three weeks ago and had every reason to be on fire. As well as winning Olympic gold just over a month ago, she also won the Women’s Open at St Andrews.
Ko said her big summer — winning the gold medal that landed her in the LPGA Hall of Fame — still hasn’t sunk in. She arrived in the Cincinnati area and had to learn a new course. The tournament has been held the past two years at Kenwood Country Club, which is undergoing a number of improvements.
“It’s a new course, so we’re all trying to get used to this TPC course and get ourselves in position,” Ko said. “And sometimes I think when you see low scores you try to chase it too much, but I just tried to stick to my own routine and my strategy.”
Rose Zhang was 4-0 in her Solheim Cup matches – she needed just 58 holes – and finished with three consecutive bogeys for a score of 73. Esther Henseleit had a score of 74 and the other seven Solheim Cup players were on par or better.
