Taking control

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Nelly Korda said Wednesday that her attitude was to “control what you can control” as she seeks a historic third major of the season at the women’s British Open.

The world No. 1 claimed the Chevron Championship in April and collected her fourth major at the US Open last month.

South Korea’s Ryu Hae-ran then won the PGA Championship before adding the Evian Championship in France, where US star Korda failed to make the cut at a tournament for the first time in two years.

The 2026 season is the first in golf history in which two players have won multiple majors, and only six players — men or women — have won three of the biggest prizes in a single year.

Korda was asked whether she was confident she could win a third major of the year ahead of Thursday’s first round of the British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes, on the coast of northwest England.

She admitted she had a “love-hate relationship” with links courses, typically built on sandy coastal terrain, offering firmer playing surfaces than parkland courses, with wind exposure often a factor.

“My attitude this week is control what you can control — sometimes with links golf you can kind of get pretty agitated with the bounces that you get,” Korda said.

“You know you hit a good shot, get a bad bounce, end up in a bunker, have to pitch out unfortunately and save par.”

The American, who celebrated her 28th birthday on Tuesday, is looking to improve on her best performance at the fifth women’s major of the year — a shared second-place finish behind Lydia Ko at St Andrews in 2024.

“I would say with it being kind of in a condensed part of our schedule I get pretty agitated and I think what I’ve learned is I just need to take a step back and hit the reset button sometimes,” she said.

But Korda said she relished the challenge of links golf, even though she plays it for just two weeks in the year.

“I think that’s what’s really fun is the creative side of like tossing everything that you really know, technique, everything out the window,” she added.

“You’re like ‘I’m not even going to hit the fairway here because all these bunkers are into play. I’m just going to go into the rough because that’s actually a better line into the green.”

“When do you ever say that when you play like normal golf?... And I feel like that’s kind of what’s unique and fun about this type of golf.”

Korda and Ryu will tee off alongside New Zealand’s Ko in one of the marquee groups for the first two rounds.