Jessica Korda rises in Olympic Golf Ranking after runner-up
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by Preston Smith
While her sister Nelly has remained near the top in the Olympic Golf Ranking for months, it was Jessica Korda who surged last week at the Hugel-Air Premia LA Open. Jessica Korda earned a runner-up finish in Los Angeles to leap up the Olympic golf Rankings. Korda moved from 21st to 12th in the Ranking.
“[It was] Awesome, I'm really glad that I was able to make birdie on 18, get myself out of the tie for second,” said Korda after her finish last week. “So at least solo, and there is a really a lot of positives to take out of this week, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.”
Perhaps more importantly for the upcoming Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 this summer, Korda advanced past Jennifer Kupcho (15th) and Austin Ernst (16th) to become the fourth American in the Ranking. The top-four Americans will be eligible for the Olympics with a maximum of four golfers per country in the top-15. Currently for Team USA, the top-four Americans are Nelly Korda (No. 4), Danielle Kang (No. 6), Lexi Thompson (No. 8) and Jessica Korda (No. 12).
Korda led throughout the Hugel-Air Premia LA Open but was ultimately overcome during the final round by Canadian Brooke Henderson, who closed with a 4-under round.
“Really frustrating, really couldn't get anything going,” said Korda of her final round, a 1-over effort. “I was hitting it really good and then just it wasn't happening for me for some reason. Just kept getting screwed and the wind kept dropping and then coming back up and we were -- we just -- it just wasn't happening. I don't know. I couldn't make anything happen today. I tried. I tried to force a couple birdies, and, you know, if -- I had a great little 8-iron into the par-5 15 and takes the biggest bounce I've ever seen and goes over the green.”
