“You just can’t play this course from the rough and fairway bunkers. It’s going to catch up to – you no matter how good you are.” – Dan Hicks on Nelly Korda (+10, Missed Cut)
“She’s meant a tremendous amount amount to this game. She changed the way that the game is played.” – Stacy Lewis on Lexi Thompson (+13, Missed Cut) on Peacock’s ‘Golden Hour’ coverage
“She’s acting like she’s been there before. This was not smoke and mirrors stuff. This was solid U.S. Open stuff.” – Brandel Chamblee on Wichanee Meechai (-4, Leader)
STAMFORD, Conn. – May 31, 2024 – NBC Sports presented second 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.
Today’s coverage also included “Golden Hour” on Peacock, hosted by Mike Tirico, which featured 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 and U.S. Open winner Justin Rose; and Olympic archer and Lancaster native Casey Kaufhold, as they discussed the U.S. Women’s Open looked ahead to this summer’s Paris Olympics.
Saturday’s broadcast coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock and continues at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
U.S. Women’s Open – Second Round Leaderboard
| Player | Total |
| Wichanee Meechai | -4 |
| Andrea Lee | -2 |
| Minjee Lee | -1 |
| Yuka Saso | -1 |
| Asterisk Talley (a)* | +1 |
*8 players tied at +1
ON NELLY KORDA (+10, Missed Cut)
Michelle Wie West on Nelly Korda on Peacock’s ‘Golden Hour’: “It’s extremely fun to be playing well and have everyone want your autograph, but it’s also draining...it adds up...I think you’re going to reach a time when you’re going to get tired....especially a U.S. Open week, it’s a draining week. That big number yesterday, it really could just stem from being a little bit tired.”
Dan Hicks on Korda’s tee shot on the 12th barely staying out of the water: “(The golf gods) have just said, ‘enough is enough.’”
Hicks on Korda’s par save on the 12th hole: “\‘I had a 10 on this hole yesterday, today I get saved from the water by just a couple inches in the rough, I didn’t hit a great chip, but let’s just go ahead and putt it in from 20 feet for par.”
Morgan Pressel on Korda: “You can see the frustration really starting to build here in her reactions. She knows she just hasn’t hit the ball as well as she has needed to today. She had a chance to fight her way back into the weekend.”
Paige Mackenzie on the fans being engaged: “All of the fans that have remained this late into the evening to watch Nelly Korda play, they know exactly what she needs to do. Multiple people asked me what the cut line is and what she needs to do make the cut.”
Hicks on the reason for Korda’s struggles this week: “That’s the story of the day, not enough fairways hit for Korda. You just can’t play this course from the rough and fairway bunkers. It’s going to catch up to – you no matter how good you are.”
ON LEXI THOMPSON (+13, Missed Cut)
Karen Stupples on what Lexi Thompson may miss as she retires from professional golf: “When you do hang up the clubs and retire from championship golf, there are going to be certain events that when you’re sitting at home watching on TV you’re going to think, ‘Oh I really wish I was there, I really want to participate in this, I really miss going through what the players are going through.’”
Stupples: “In general, when you think about Lexi (Thompson), you think about the majors. I think she’ll be sitting there and there will be some pining of missing being here.”
ON WICHANEE MEECHAI (-4, Leader)
Mel Reid: “I played with Meechai two or three years ago and she was all out of sorts – hitting it left, right, she couldn’t keep the ball on the planet, to be quite honest. But she’s reined that back in and I think she’s put in a lot of good work. Her putting though has been the biggest difference this week.”
Brandel Chamblee: “The golf ball doesn’t know that Wichanee Meechai is the 158th ranked player in the world. If I didn’t tell you her name, and I said, she’s leading in driving accuracy, second in strokes gained approach, top ten in strokes gained putting...that’s how you lead a U.S. Open...she made some confidence-builders, round-savers. You thought at any moment, the reality of where she’s at and what she’s doing might catch up with her...she’s acting like she’s been there before. I know she hasn’t...but this was not smoke and mirrors stuff. This was solid U.S. Open stuff.”
Mackenzie: “I’ve been following Nelly Korda all day, and I thought she was a quick player? Meechai had pulled the club back on her approach shot here on 18 before the other player’s ball had landed on the green. A very quick-paced player, doesn’t mess around, makes decisions quickly.”
Tom Abbott: “Her father was a long-time rules official, so if your dad is a rules official, you’ve got to play quick.”
PEACOCK’S ‘GOLDEN HOUR’ WITH MIKE TIRICO
Stacy Lewis on impact of Lexi Thompson on Peacock’s ‘Golden Hour’ with Mike Tirico: “She’s meant a tremendous amount to this game. When she came on tour in her rookie year, the LPGA Tour was not in a great place. It was a time when we had to do anything and everything that was asked of us just to have tournaments, just to have opportunities to play...she came in and did the work, and to this day, there is nobody that goes to more Pro-Am parties than Lexi Thompson, she’s awesome with the fans, and she changed the way that the game is played.”
Justin Rose on the creation of the Rose Ladies Series on Peacock’s Golden Hour with Mike Tirico: “Maybe the only good thing to come out of COVID...stepping back into my world without much changing, and realizing that opportunity wasn’t there across the sport. Having a son and daughter as I do and realizing that opportunities should be equal and that maybe your sport isn’t quite there, it was important to lend a hand...golf’s a skill set that requires nurturing and practicing, so we tried to create a series of event so they had something to practice for, a way to get the scorecard in their hands, so when the LET came back, they’d be ready to play.”
Rose: “The ladies’ game has been super fun to watch. There’s a tailwind there and the USGA have stepped up big-time in terms of the purse and moving things closer in parity to the men’s game. When you lean into it, you understand the passion behind the players and the dedication they have.”
Tirico to Rose after showing his Olympic Gold Medal on Golden Hour: “I guess if you’ve got a gold medal and you’re coming on the ‘Golden Hour’ show, you better bring it out.”
Rose on winning the gold medal in Rio in 2016: ”I was just thrilled to be there and be a part of it and call myself an Olympian...being something that was bigger than myself, being a part of a team, like-minded athletes...almost surreal to be on the podium and experiencing the medal ceremony...in our sport, it wasn’t necessarily the pinnacle, but as soon as you have that opportunity to see it, taste it, feel it, you realize how important the Olympics are.”
Casey Kaufhold on similarities between golf and archery: “We compare golf and archery often. It’s similar in that it’s one shot at a time, it’s a bit of a repetitive sport, and a lot of the mental strategies in the two sports are very similar.”
--NBC SPORTS--
