“It was almost like watching a scary movie.” – Morgan Pressel on Korda’s 10
“That’s how you win U.S. Opens – by making those clutch par putts.” – Pressel on leader Yuka Saso
“Asterisk Talley putting an exclamation point on her first round.” – Dan Hicks on 15-year-old amateur following even par 70
STAMFORD, Conn. – May 30, 2024 – NBC Sports presented first round coverage of the 79th U.S. Women’s Open Championship from Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pa., on USA Network and Peacock, including on-site pre- and post-round coverage on Live From the U.S. Women’s Open on GOLF Channel and Peacock.
Friday’s broadcast coverage begins at noon ET exclusively on Peacock and continues at 2 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Following are Friday’s featured groups on Peacock:
· 8:12 a.m. ET: Lexi Thompson/Rose Zhang/Minjee Lee & Brooke Henderson/Yuka Saso/Hannah Green
· 1:57 p.m. ET: Nelly Korda/Nasa Hataoka/Megan Khang & Lydia Ko/Charley Hull/Jin-Young Ko
Peacock will stream exclusive coverage of “Golden Hour” on Friday at 5 p.m. ET, hosted by Mike Tirico. The second-screen experience is scheduled to include interviews with 2014 U.S. Women’s Open champion Michelle Wie West; Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis, who finished T-3 at the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open in Lancaster; 2016 Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose; and Olympic archer and Lancaster native Casey Kaufhold – discussing Friday’s coverage as players aim to make the cut and also looking ahead to this summer’s Paris Olympics.
U.S. Women’s Open – First Round Leaderboard
Player | Total |
Yuka Saso | -2 |
Andrea Lee | -1 |
Wichianee Meechai | -1 |
Adela Cernousek (a) | -1 |
Minjee Lee* | E |
*10 players tied at E
ON NELLY KORDA (+10, T-140th)
Brandel Chamblee on Wednesday’s Live From: “When you look at what she’s done at U.S. Opens, she’s gotten herself into trouble and she hasn’t done a really good job of getting herself out of trouble. In those nine U.S. Opens, she has almost averaged three double bogeys or higher per championship. Since 2000, of all the players that have won, they have averaged less than one...when she does get in trouble, it is very important for her to get back out there because she has so many skills and so many places that she can get an advantage on everyone else.”
Chamblee on Korda’s 10 on the 12th today on Live From: “We knew the 12th was going to be difficult...she compounds her error by trying to get a little bit cute rather than take her medicine and pitch it past the hole.”
Mel Reid on Live From: “It’s unbelievable...my anxiety would be going through the roof if I had to play that 12th hole. We knew the 12th would be a tough hole. That front-right pin is nasty.”
Chamblee on the 12th hole: “I don’t really know where you hit it here, but I know where you don’t hit it and that’s the front part of this green. Maybe it’s just part of a lesson – you can’t always attack the pin, especially at U.S. Opens.”
Reid on Korda’s 15-minute wait to play the 12th hole: “Because it’s such carnage out there and the play has been so dramatic, the 12th hole was so backed up. (Korda) is standing there on the tee watching the carnage play out in front of her as well.”
Amanda Blumenherst on the mentality of struggling on a hole: “You feel like you’re in quicksand and the more you struggle the quicker you sink. You have to take a breath and slow things down.”
Blumenherst following the 12th hole: “You can see she is really upset. She has to be thinking after that one hole, ‘How do I come back from that?’...one of those ‘Tin Cup’ moments. ‘Another ball, another ball.’”
Damon Hack on Korda and the difficult scoring conditions: “She looks like she’s in shock...the kind of day that might make some players want to shred their scorecard and throw it in the trash.”
Karen Stupples: “She has to feel like she threw the whole championship away on her third hole.”
Stupples: “Nelly Korda is too good for those things to happen, so when you put yourself in her shoes you’re thinking, ‘This shouldn’t happen to me…’ but it did.”
Morgan Pressel on Korda’s 10 on the 12th hole: “It was almost like watching a scary movie at some point and that can happen at a U.S. Open. We expected to see it at some point, just not with Nelly Korda.”
ON LEXI THOMPSON (+8, T-128th)
Stupples on Lexi Thompson’s bogey on the 4th hole: “The rough is just so thick that (Lexi) Thompson must have figured it was just as hard to chip it into the fairway as it was to go for the green, so she went for it.”
Tom Abbott on Thompson’s history with wrist/hand injuries: “You have to think about the size of the divots she takes – I mean divots you could wear as a wig – and the toll that has to have taken on her wrists.”
ON YUKA SASO (-2, Leader)
Pressel on Saso’s par save on 12: “That’s how you win U.S. Opens – by making those clutch par putts. Three in a row that keep all the momentum going.”
Hicks: “That’s one of the great saves on the golf course today.”
Paige Mackenzie on Saso’s swing: “She actually has molded her swing after Rory McIlroy by watching YouTube videos on his swing, and it’s clearly showing it’s working out here today.”
ON ASTERISK TALLEY (a) (Even, T-5th)
Hicks following Talley’s chip to a foot on 18th hole: “Asterisk Talley putting an exclamation point on this first round...what a performance for Talley, even par as a 15-year-old on one of the more difficult tracks we have seen in U.S. Women’s Open history.”
ON COURSE CONDITIONS
Reid on the Par 3 12th hole: “I think she’s an absolute beauty, but she played like an absolute beast today.”
Stupples: “When you get to a course like Lancaster, you know that even par is going to put you in good stead. It’s a U.S. Open, it’s particularly tough. Nerves are flying everywhere.”
Stupples: “We’re watching a difficult golf course today and mother nature is not helping with the windy conditions. The course is playing very firm which is exactly how the USGA wanted it to play.”
--NBC SPORTS--
