Top-ranked Nelly Korda even par to start Women's PGA after reaggravating neck injury

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FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Nelly Korda shot an even-par 72 in the opening round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship on Thursday, three days after the world's top-ranked player reaggravated a neck injury during a practice round.

While Korda said she doesn't feel pain hitting shots, the two-time major champion said she has pain “just with rotation” of her neck and that it is hard to get comfortable to sleep at night.

“It’s better, yeah. Getting better every day, which is nice,” she said. “Just because I injured it last year, whenever I do injure my neck it takes a little bit longer than normal. I kind of tweaked it before my round with Ariya (Jutanugarn) in Vegas this year, during the night I couldn’t move then, so thankfully it wasn’t as bad as that day. ... Just takes me like a week to kind of recover when I tweak my neck now.”

Korda late last year skipped two tournaments during the LPGA’s Asia swing because of a minor neck injury, and that loss to Jutanugarn in match play was in April. Korda said earlier this week that her neck “went into a full spasm” after hitting a shot out of the rough during a practice round at the Fields Ranch East course at PGA Frisco on Monday, before skipping the champions dinner that night.

In the first round of the season's third major, Korda had two birdies and two bogeys. She was four shots behind Jeeno Thitikul, the world's No. 2-ranked player who was in the same group and the tournament leader at 4-under 68.

“Overall I mean, even par to start the major ... it was windier in the morning than I thought it would be. So played a little tougher. Yeah, I’m pretty happy with my first round in the conditions,” Korda said. “It was pretty windy. It was hot. It definitely takes a toll on you, the Texas heat. So happy with my position. I haven’t even really looked at the leaderboard, to be honest.”

Korda opened with seven consecutive pars, including at the 317-yard, par-4 seventh hole, where she hit a 294-yard drive into a valley just short of the green. Her initial pitch from there ricocheted off the edge of the green and rolled back down the slope to where she was. Korda hit her next shot to 2 feet and saved par.

On the par-3 eighth, Korda's tee shot went over the green to set up her first bogey. She got free relief after her approach at the par-5 ninth went right and settled next to a temporary structure, and she pitched to 3 1/2 feet and made the birdie putt.

“It’s great to rebound with a birdie. Wasn’t sure where to drop. The grass was like pavement. It was so firm, it’s been walked on a lot,” Korda said. “Whenever you get to bounce back with a birdie and you get to kind of have in a sense a fresh start for the next nine holes, that’s always good.”

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