US Women’s Open: Nelly Korda misses cut as Wichanee Meechai takes two-shot lead into weekend

World No 1 Nelly Korda struggled to find her form as she missed the eight-over cut line by two shots at the Women’s US Open following her disastrous 80 on the opening day.

A level-par 70 in the second round was not enough to save the American, who came into the major at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania as the overwhelming favourite having won six of her last seven tournaments.

Korda got a small measure of revenge on the par-three 12th, where on Thursday she found the water three times and made a career-worst 10 on her way to an 80. This time her tee shot was held up by a patch of grass and Korda jabbed a pitch to 20 feet and holed the par putt.

She ran off three straight birdies toward the end of the front nine to get in range of the cut but did not hit the ball well off the tee and had only four looks at birdie on the back nine, eventually missing the cut by two.

“When I made those three birdies in a row, I wanted to make the cut,” Korda said.

“I knew that I was kind of hovering around it, and I just couldn’t get anything going on the back. There’s not many low scores out here, and I was pretty far back.

“Tried to give it my all. That’s what I do with every round. I had nothing to lose, so that was kind of like the mentality. Just go for it.”

Meanwhile, Thailand’s Wichanee Meechai started Friday with four straight birdies on her opening four holes and matched the low score of the week with a three-under 67 for a two-shot lead going into a weekend.

The 31-year-old has never finished in the top 10 in her previous 20 appearances in the majors. She is ranked 158th in the world and has never won in the United States.

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Meechai steadied herself with two birdies over the last six holes to finish on four under, two shots in front of Andrea Lee with only two other players under par.

“To be honest, before the tee time, I was so nervous. I just talked to my manager, like my hands just shaking, my brain just stopped working,” Meechai said.

“But trying to commit to the shot. I know that the course is hard; just go with the flow probably. That’s my point, and just have fun.”

Also missing the cut were Rose Zhang, Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson and defending Women’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz.

Asterisk Talley, 15, who had 15 pars in her round of 71 and was in a group one over that included US Women’s Amateur champion Megan Schofill, made the cut.

Lee was in a bunker on the first – her 10th hole of the round – when her shot rolled true to a back pin and dropped for eagle.

She followed that with three straight birdies and suddenly was two clear of Meechai in the group behind her, before she failed to save par from a bunker on the par-three eighth.

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