Nelly Korda’s Olympic collapse? It started with 1 ill-fated, ‘hesitant’ move

dge or 9-iron? Should Nelly Korda hammer the former on Le Golf National’s par-3 16th? Or finesse the latter? Decisions, decisions. She held both clubs on the tee Thursday afternoon.

Prior to that, the world No. 1 could have gotten away with playing a pole-vault stick during the Olympics second round. She birdied 3. And 5 and 6. And 9. And 11. And 15. She had hit all but one green.

She then missed another.

Stunningly, with the 9, missing short and into the water even with the longer club.

From there, she collapsed, going from two back of the lead to a whopping seven down to begin the 18th. Korda birdied that closing hole, but she’ll need more if she’s to defend her Olympic gold, or medal at all.

So what happened?

Back to the club choice.

Nothing was wrong with the 9. But she said she played it “hesitant.” The ball came off its heel.

And it fell about a yard in front of the water protecting the green’s front, before bouncing in.

Said analyst John Wood on the Golf Channel broadcast: “That was a shocker. She had both clubs out — she had wedge and 9, and I think what happened was she went with the 9, maybe feeling it was a lot of club and just took way too much off it and eased into it, did not play an aggressive shot.”

Said Wood later: “So important when you make those last-minute club changes to really commit yourself to it. Get that other one completely out of your head and convince yourself this is the right one.”

Said analyst Morgan Pressel in response: “… I always say you want to be committed to the wrong club than not committed at all.”

Things snowballed.

— Korda dropped in the drop zone, then fatted a wedge into the bunker ahead of the green. “Just hit a really poor wedge shot,” Korda said.