New York Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson is entering his third season in the NFL, and while he's not yet achieved veteran status, he couldn't help but poke fun at some of the Jets rookies' habits.
Rookie wide receiver Malachi Corley was paying close attention during one of the team's meetings during offseason camp, and he wanted to make sure he soaked up every detail of what the coaching staff had to say. As such, he made some pretty extensive notes on a tablet, going as far as to color code certain sections.
After catching a glimpse of Corley's colorful notebook, Wilson couldn't help but take a funny jab at his new teammate, laughing at the extensive notes before admitting that he was a fan of the rookie's attention to detail.
Garrett Wilson clowning Jets Rookie WR Malachi Corley for his notes is KILLING me pic.twitter.com/lj3NfX3T8e
"Hold on, [Malachi]. This looks like my fourth grade crush's s---," said Wilson while laughing. "All this nice handwriting for the insert. This is pretty as f---!"
New York drafted Corley in the third round of the 2024 NFL draft, and he's clearly looking to get off on the right foot with his new team. The Western Kentucky product caught 29 touchdowns across four seasons in college, including 22 over the last two years.
Commissioner Greg Sankey wrapped up the Southeastern Conference’s annual spring meetings with a window into his thinking in starting an advisory group with the Big Ten to study issues in college athletics—and with another tacit suggestion that the NCAA basketball tournaments be expanded.
Sankey has previously stated his willingness to explore tournament expansion as far back as two years ago. He cited North Carolina State’s Final Four run this year as a No. 11 seed as another example of why the current 68-team format should be reexamined.
“When we assign two 10 seeds to play each other and then you have a North Carolina State that goes to the Final Four, we’re taking two teams that could maybe make that same run and eliminating one of them up front, rather than playing 15 and 16 seeds,” Sankey said.
The present 68-team format matches the last quartet of at-large selections in “First Four” games in Dayton, Ohio, with the winners of those games advancing to the main bracket of 64. In those games this year, the Colorado State Rams defeated the Virginia Cavaliers and the Colorado Buffaloes eliminated the Boise State Broncos.
Sankey also cited the recommendation of greater championship inclusion by the ill-fated NCAA transformation committee that he co-chaired with Ohio athletic director Julie Cromer in 2022. The committee recommended 25% of the membership having access to championships in every sport. Currently, the 68-team NCAA tourney represents 18.7% of the 363-school Division I.
“So we’ve allowed Division I to grow, we have conferences solving their membership problems by inviting non–Division I members in,” Sankey said. “But we haven’t modified the bracket size. My common sense says we have to dig into that. Now, there are competitive issues, there are calendar issues, there are economic issues. But I do think March can be kept together. That doesn’t mean it stays exactly the same.”
Several leaders in college athletics have begun championing an expanded NCAA bracket. Industry sources have said an increase of the tourney in some form is virtually inevitable, despite considerable public pushback to the idea of changing something that is wildly popular in its current form.
But the power conferences—and specifically the SEC and Big Ten—have seemed increasingly open to considering a breakaway from the rest of Division I. The other 27 conferences in the division have been willing—albeit grudgingly in many cases—to placate the power leagues in order to maintain their place in the Big Dance.
“We have to recognize the differences that do exist within the group that pursues the brass ring of the tournament access opportunity,” Sankey said.
The commissioner also laid out how and why the SEC–Big Ten advisory group came to be introduced in February. Sankey initiated the idea after a series of frustrating meetings with other college leaders.
“I picked up the phone on a Saturday night [in January] and called [Big Ten commissioner] Tony Petitti because I had spent a Monday in Houston in a [College Football Playoff] meeting where we failed to accomplish much, in my opinion,” Sankey said. “I stayed for the first half of the national championship game, first time I ever left at halftime, you can understand why [the SEC had no team in the final game]. I had an early, early flight the next morning to go to Phoenix. I then spent the better part of two days in NCAA meetings where we accomplished little.
“We have some really big problems. It didn’t seem like we were solving the medium problems, and we’re not even talking about the really big issues. And I had thought for a long period of time that, if we agree, the two conferences could fulfill a leadership responsibility.”
Sankey reiterated that the joint undertaking “is not an alliance.” That referred to the doomed agreement between the Big Ten, Atlantic Coast Conference and Pac-12 that tried to join forces on a number of issues in 2021. That alliance was left in tatters when the Big Ten raided the Pac-12 for USC Trojans and UCLA in ’22.
Sankey said he came to a “realization that you’re not going to solve the big problems in big rooms filled with people. Because the realities are so different across Division I.” That was after a series of frustrations built up while working on multiple committees. Sankey said that when the transformation committee received a presentation from a group studying name, image and likeness policy, nobody spoke up.
“There’s times in the job when you’re a bully and times when you try to be a statesman,” he said. “And I try not to be a bully. But that day was enormously frustrating. … The opportunity was offered for questions, and I decided to just wait and see what people have to say. And nobody said a word. I jumped in and said, ‘You have to be kidding me.’ So I was a jerk. I try not to be a jerk all of the time, or most of the time, but sometimes you have to be a jerk. That informed that January thought [to call Petitti].”
Amidst a drama-filled postseason, the 2023-24 NHL campaign is nearing an end. A new champion will be crowned in the upcoming 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Final.
The format of the Stanley Cup Final is simple—a best-of-seven series just like the first three rounds of the playoffs. The team with home-ice advantage (awarded based on which team had the better regular-season record) hosts Game 1, Game 2, Game 5 (if necessary) and Game 7. The other team hosts Games 3, 4 and 6.
The Rangers would have home-ice advantage if they advance past the Eastern Conference Final since they finished with the most points (114) in the regular-season standings. The Stars (113 points) would have home-ice advantage if the Panthers (110 points) won the East, and Florida can only have the advantage if the Oilers (104 points) beat Dallas.
Without further ado, here's everything you need to know about tuning in to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final:
The best-of-seven series to crown the 2023-24 NHL champion will begin with Game 1 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final on Saturday, June 8.
Every game will be televised exclusively on ABC in the United States. In Canada, the games will be aired on Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports.
GAME
DATE
TIME
CHANNEL
Game 1
Saturday, June 8
8 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 2
Monday, June 10
8 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 3
Thursday, June 13
8 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 4
Saturday, June 15
8 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 5 (if necessary)
Tuesday, June 18
8 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 6 (if necessary)
Friday, June 21
8 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 7 (if necessary)
Monday, June 24
8 p.m. ET
ABC
Every game of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final will be available for fans in the United States to stream on ESPN+ and the ABC app. Both will require a TV provider login.
Streaming options that don’t require cable include FuboTV, DirecTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV. For fans not looking to spend exorbitant amounts on a streaming service, FuboTV offers a free one-week trial to new subscribers.
The New Orleans Saints announced on Thursday that former quarterback Drew Brees will be inducted into the team's Hall of Fame during the 2024 season.
The quarterback was understandably emotional during his press conference on Thursday while reflecting on his 15 seasons with the Saints. But the moment that brought out the biggest reaction for him was when he spoke about his former teammates, specifically the offensive line that played during their Super Bowl XLIV win.
"Our offensive line, I have this, my favorite," Brees said as couldn't finish his sentence while holding back tears. "This picture of our O-Line from the Super Bowl. ... Those guys inspired me every day. I wouldn't have been able to accomplish any of those things without them, and it certainly would not have been as enjoyable without them. They were the reason that I wanted to walk in here every day."
Brees named Jermon Bushrod, Carl Nicks, Jonathan Goodwin, Jahri Evans and Jon Stinchcomb.
The quarterback retired after the 2020 season. His induction ceremony will take place during a game in the 2024 season, but the date hasn't been publicly announced yet.
The 2024 NFL season is still a few months out, but there's plenty of offseason content to look forward to for the famished fanbase. Among those is the annual edition of HBO's Hard Knocks, for which the participating team was revealed on Wednesday.
This fall, it will be the Chicago Bears taking center stage as the focus of the 2024 season of Hard Knocks, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most intriguing rosters in the league as they look to start a new chapter with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.
Hard Knocks will give fans an exclusive look into the Bears' training camp and grant access to some unique footage as the team goes through its preparations for the regular season, including inside looks at roster cuts, team meetings, practices and more.
Chicago's revamped offense features a plethora of new faces, as well as some returning ones. D.J. Moore and Cole Kmet figure to play prominent roles as weapons for Williams in his rookie campaign, and he'll also have newcomers such as rookie wideout Rome Odunze and veteran receiver Keenan Allen to throw to as well.
Only three teams this year were not given the option to reject the opportunity to appear on the show. In addition to the Bears, the Denver Broncos and New Orleans Saints also met the league's requirements, which include: Not having a first-year head coach, not making the playoffs in each of the past two seasons and not having featured on Hard Knocks in the past decade.
The 2024 edition of the popular series has not been given an official release date just yet, though it's set to be available for streaming on Max in the near future.
Jorge López was designated for assignment by the New York Mets on Thursday. The move came the day after he was ejected from the Mets' latest team meltdown. López was struggling on the mound and another game was slipping away from the Mets when he started arguing with third base umpire Ramon De Jesus about a call. After De Jesus ejected him, he untucked his jersey and threw his glove over the protective netting into the stands.
Speaking to the media after the game he called himself the worst teammate in baseball, but struggled to make it clear that's what he meant because English is his second language. It was a mess all around and this morning he blamed the media for making it worse, which they did, even if it was unintentional.
With the Mets' nonstop misfortunes and López DFA'd with his future up in the air, it's hard to imagine this getting worse. And yet, it has. This morning on Boomer and Gio, Boomer Esiason revealed that López was also dealing with issues off the field.
Boomer Esiason expresses remorse for now former Mets relief pitcher Jorge López after learning his son is dealing with a serious health issue and awaiting a transplant. pic.twitter.com/tb2JaPPZrN
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 30, 2024
"I can totally understand why you may lose it on the field the way that he did," Esiason said, "and I can also understand now why internally they may have handled it a little bit differently than I would have liked it. So his son, as I understand, is waiting for a transplant. And its a very serious situation and I don't know what's going through this young man's head. All I do know is there was a year where I had to play without knowing what Gunnar was going through and I know exactly how difficult that is to try to balance those two things."
Esiason then wondered if the Mets could have put López on the 15-day DL for a mental health break and brought up the fact that it is Mental Health Awareness Month.
"It does really bring up a very good point," Esiason continued. "Now we can make fun of it because it's the Mets and it's a mess and everything else, but there's something serious going on in this young man's life. And I just wanted to offer an apology with the way that I went about it this morning. It's just not appropriate and I want to wish him and his family the very best and hopefully, he can get the help that he needs."
According to Yahoo!'s Jake Mintz, López's son, Mikael, suffers from Familial Mediterranean Fever, "a condition that causes immense physical discomfort and has required regular hospital visits and multiple transplants." The illness often keeps Mikael from watching his father play and yesterday was his 11th birthday.
If you're still upset with López after reading that, you're the problem. And that's what the Mets need to realize very quickly. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they did based on this comment from Carlos Mendoza this afternoon.
Carlos Mendoza opens his pregame press conference addressing the decision to DFA Jorge López:
"We have standards here," Mendoza said, "and I told you guys yesterday that behaviors like that we weren't going to tolerate that. So that's why we made that decision. We addressed it. And now we've got the Diamondbacks here."
López has already established that he was the bad teammate, so you're left with the glove toss being an unforgivable sin. Something so embarrassing to a club that there's no turning back. Keep in mind Bryce Harper destroyed a bat in the middle of a full Phillies dugout the same day that Lopez harmlessly tossed a glove into the stands. How is throwing a glove any worse than anytime a guy has destroyed a water cooler when something didn't go his way?
But that's besides the point. López made a few mistakes and none of them seem unforgivable. Especially when you combine the current vibes surrounding the Mets organization and what must feel like a terrifying and impossible situation at home. Should he be suspended or fined? Sure, he was out of line. But if the Mets turn their backs on him right now, it's irresponsible and wrong.
If the Mets can help this one player who clearly needs it right now then they can't consider this a lost season. No matter what happens on the field.
On May 30, the Miami Dolphins inked standout wide receiver Jaylen Waddle to a hefty three-year, $84.75 million contract extension with $76 million guaranteed. The deal makes Waddle one of the highest-paid wideouts in the entire NFL, quite an honor considering how many good and well-paid receivers there are in the league nowadays.
Specifically, Waddle is now one of the five highest-paid wide receivers based on average annual value, or AAV. This has become the most used metric in ranking NFL contracts because salary guarantees fluctuate so drastically from contract to contract. It's also quite simple—to find the AAV of any deal, take the total value and divide it by the length of the contract.
In Waddle's case, his three-year contract comes out to an average of $28.25 million per season. That ranks below Philadelphia Eagles' A.J. Brown ($32 million) Detroit Lions' Amon-Ra St. Brown ($30 million) and fellow Dolphin Tyreek Hill ($30 million) but higher than contemporaries like Las Vegas Raiders' Davante Adams ($28 million) or Los Angeles Rams' Cooper Kupp ($26.7 million).
Speaking even more broadly, how does Waddle's new deal stack up across the league? Here's where he ranks among the NFL's 30 highest-paid receivers, ranked by AAV with total value and the total amount of money that is guaranteed, which is another useful metric in measuring how much the contract really means to both player and team.
PLAYER/TEAM
AVERAGE ANNUAL VALUE
TOTAL VALUE
TOTAL GUARANTEED
A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles
$32 million
$96 million
$84 million
Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit Lions
$30 million
$120 million
$77 million
Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins
$30 million
$120 million
$72.2 million
Jaylen Waddle, Miami Dolphins
$28.25 million
$84.75 million
$76 million
Davante Adams, Las Vegas Raiders
$28 million
$140 million
$65.7 million
Cooper Kupp, Los Angeles Rams
$26.7 million
$80.1 million
$75 million
DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia Eagles
$25 million
$75 million
$70 million
Nico Collins, Houston Texans
$24.3 million
$72.3 million
$32.1 million
D.K. Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks
$24 million
$72 million
$58.2 million
Deebo Samuel, San Francisco 49ers
$23.9 million
$71.6 million
$58.2 million
Michael Pittman Jr., Indianapolis Colts
$23.3 million
$70 million
$46 million
Terry McLaurin, Washington Commanders
$23.2 million
$69.6 million
$53.2 million
Calvin Ridley, Tennessee Titans
$23 million
$92 million
$50 million
Stefon Diggs, Houston Texans
$22.5 million
$22.5 million
$22 million
Tee Higgins, Cincinnati Bengals (pending signing of franchise tag)
$21.8 million
$21.8 million
$0
D.J. Moore, Chicago Bears
$20.6 million
$61.9 million
$41.6 million
Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
$20.5 million
$41 million
$29 million
Keenan Allen, Chicago Bears
$20 million
$80.1 million
$50 million
Amari Cooper, Cleveland Browns
$20 million
$100 million
$60 million
Chris Godwin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
$20 million
$60 million
$40 million
Diontae Johnson, Carolina Panthers
$18.4 million
$36.7 million
$27 million
Christian Kirk, Jacksonville Jaguars
$18 million
$72 million
$37 million
Jerry Jeudy, Cleveland Browns
$17.5 million
$52.5 million
$41 million
Tyler Lockett, Seattle Seahawks
$15 million
$30 million
$12.6 million
Courtland Sutton, Denver Broncos
$15 million
$60 million
$34.9 million
DeAndre Hopkins, Tennessee Titans
$13 million
$26 million
$11 million
Gabe Davis, Jacksonville Jaguars
$13 million
$39 million
$24 million
Darnell Mooney, Atlanta Falcons
$13 million
$39 million
$26 million
Allen Lazard, New York Jets
$11 million
$44 million
$22 million
Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders
$11 million
$33 million
$21 million
There are undoubtedly more names who will be added to this list as soon as this offseason. Minnesota Vikings' Justin Jefferson, Dallas Cowboys' CeeDee Lamb, San Francisco 49ers' Brandon Aiyuk, and Cincinnati Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase are all eligible for extensions this summer. Most, if not all, should receive lucrative offers that will ultimately rank above even Waddle's new deal.
It's a good time to play receiver in the National Football League, that's for sure.
The Kansas City Chiefs are among the first teams to publicly discuss schematic changes in the wake of the NFL’s new kickoff rules for 2024. They likely won’t be the last.
The league’s revised kickoff rules, approved by NFL owners back in March, generated a storm of controversy during its public reception. As part of the new format, kickers may be expected to defend the kickoff return more often, a wrinkle which has given Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub some food for thought.
Rather than use kicker Harrison Butker for all kickoffs this upcoming season, Toub said the team was considering employing a different player in the interest of Butker’s long-term health.
“I like to have somebody that can go back, is able to make a tackle,” Toub said on Thursday. “Butker is able to make a tackle, but I really don’t want him making tackles all year long. If you watch the XFL—we watched every play—I bet kickers were involved in probably at least 25 to 40 percent of the tackles… So we don’t want Butker in that situation.”
The #Chiefs have considered not using Harrison Butker for all kickoffs and instead using a player like safety Justin Reid.
Special teams coordinator Dave Toub said the new kickoff rule has kickers more involved in tackles, and they don't want that for Butker.
Toub compared Butker to safety Justin Reid, who Toub believed could be a bigger difference-maker in kickoffs.
“Justin [Reid] can cover, he can kick, he can go down there and make tackles,” Toub said. “He’s an extra guy that they’re probably not accounting for. A guy like Justin is a guy they have to worry about.”
Butker ranks behind only Justin Tucker as the second-most accurate kicker in NFL history and just capped off his seventh season in Kansas City, in which he connected on 33-of-35 field goals (a career high 94.3%) and was perfect on extra point attempts.
Earlier this month, Butker faced heavy backlash stemming from controversial comments he made during a college commencement speech.
It’s no surprise why the Chiefs would want to keep their star kicker healthy throughout the upcoming season as the team makes its bid for a historic three-peat. The radically changed, hybrid kickoff format is intended to incentivize more returns, though it comes at the cost of increased risk of injury for the kickers, among other variables. The new format will receive a one-year trial and be reevaluated after the 2024-25 season.
Success in fantasy drafts is all about projecting which players are on the verge of a big season, and knowing who might take a step back in the numbers. It’s those players, who have been labeled as “busts” in the past, who can be the most detrimental to a fantasy manager’s chances at winning a title.
That might not be truer at a position than wide receiver.
The reason is simple: wideouts have emerged as the single most important position in all fantasy football. That means missing out on a high-end receiver can be tough to overcome. Case in point … fantasy managers who whiffed on Cooper Kupp last season probably had some major issues at the position, unless they picked up his teammate, Puka Nacua.
Most folks probably weren’t so fortunate, however.
With that in mind, here are eight receivers who will be high draft picks or are big names who could struggle to produce as prominent starters.
1. Davante Adams, Las Vegas Raiders
I had Adams listed as a player to beware last season, and he went on to post decreased totals in almost every statistical category. He still finished in the top 10 in points among wideouts, but he was wildly inconsistent. Adams scored fewer than 13 points in nine games, including five with single digits.
The Raiders don’t have an attractive quarterback situation with Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew and the team drafted tight end Brock Bowers in the first round. That could affect Adams’ target share, at least to some degree. So, for those thinking Adams could return to elite fantasy status or that he’ll be more consistent, you might want to think again.
2. Stefon Diggs, Houston Texans
Diggs is coming off a disappointing second half of last season, which resulted in him averaging just 16.1 points per game. That was his lowest total with the Bills. Now in Houston, he joins a super-talented core of receivers that includes Nico Collins, who broke out last season, and Tank Dell, who was on his way to busting out before getting hurt. The team also boasts Noah Brown, Dalton Schultz and a new running back in Joe Mixon. Diggs will be hard-pressed to see anywhere near the target share he enjoyed in Buffalo. Unless injuries occur on the roster, Diggs can’t be trusted to retain his previously elite status.
3. Cooper Kupp, Los Angeles Rams
I know, listing Kupp as a bust candidate after he was a bust last season is low-hanging fruit. And, honestly, part of me wants to put Nacua in the article. After all, we could be (and likely are) drafting him based on a magical, ceiling season in the stat sheets. But the truth is, Kupp has only played in 13 games in the last two years due to injuries, and he’s entering his age-31 season. That makes him a hard fade as a No. 1 wideout, and he’s even a risk as a No. 2.
4. Calvin Ridley, Tennessee Titans
Ridley was a top-20 fantasy wideout last year, but he was anything but reliable. He scored fewer than 12 points 10 times including nine where he scored single digits. Now in Tennessee, the veteran will be catching passes from a young quarterback in Will Levis and contending for targets with DeAndre Hopkins, Treylon Burks and Tyler Boyd. The Titans also have two good backs in Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears, so Ridley could be hard-pressed to see high target totals consistently. To me, he’s only a No. 3 wideout.
5. Keenan Allen, Chicago Bears
Allen was putting up monster numbers last year, but injuries cost him what might have been a career-best campaign. However, an offseason trade to the Bears makes him a lot less attractive from a fantasy standpoint. Their offense is led by a rookie quarterback in Caleb Williams, and it’s loaded with talent that includes DJ Moore, rookie Rome Odunze, D’Andre Swift, Cole Kmet and Gerald Everett. That’s a lot of mouths to feed, making it unlikely that Allen will see 150-plus targets. If you do draft him, it should be as a No. 3 receiver.
6. Tyler Lockett, Seattle Seahawks
Lockett is coming off a down season that saw his reception, yardage, and touchdown totals decrease compared to 2022. What’s more, his 11.9 point-per-game average was his lowest since 2017. Entering his age-31 season (he’ll turn 32 in September), I see Lockett falling behind teammate Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the pecking order. That idea is playing out in drafts, as JSN is going ahead of Lockett based on average draft position. With the statistical arrow pointing downward, he shouldn’t be picked as more than a No. 4 option in drafts.
7. Christian Watson, Green Bay Packers
Watson was considered a breakout player last year, but he went on to miss eight games due to injuries and was held to fewer than 12 points in all but two of the nine games he was active. His absence opened the door for teammates Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks to emerge into viable options for Jordan Love and fantasy managers. I’m not opposed to taking him in the later rounds as a No. 4 wideout, but I’m otherwise out on Watson.
8. Adam Thielen, Carolina Panthers
Thielen was one of the best wide receivers in fantasy football in the first half of last season, averaging 20.2 points in his first seven games. The wheels fell off after that, however, as he dropped to 8.9 points in his final 10 contests. Aside from that, Carolina traded for Diontae Johnson and drafted Xavier Legette, so Thielen will struggle to see such a high target share again. Entering his age-34 season, he isn’t worth more than a late-round selection.
Nelly Korda’s opening round at the U.S. Women’s Open was a shocking divergence from her stellar play to date in 2024.
The No. 1-ranked women’s golfer in the world who entered the tournament having won six of her last seven starts, including the year’s first major, shot 10-over-par 80 at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club, matching her highest-ever score on the LPGA Tour.
Korda, who won the Chevron Championship in April, had tied an LPGA record by winning five consecutive tournaments earlier this year before winning her last start two weeks ago.
“Not a lot of positive thoughts, honestly,’’ Korda said. “I just didn’t play well today. I didn’t hit it good. I found myself in the rough a lot. Making a 10 on a par-3 will definitely not do you any good at a U.S. Open.’’
The 12th gave the entire field fits and was viewed in pre-tournament interviews as one that could be a problem for the field. When the U.S. Women’s Open was played at Lancaster in 2015, the results were similar, with 31 double bogeys for the week.
It didn’t help that when Korda’s group arrived on the tee, there was already a long wait with two other groups yet to play the hole. She said she was between clubs and used a 6-iron which flew into a back bunker.
From there, she played her second long and watched it roll into the water fronting the green. She then dropped on the other side of the water and hit two wedge shots short, both ending up wet. She hit her eighth shot onto the green and then two-putted for the 10, her highest-ever score on a hole.
“Just hit some really bad chips over and over again,’’ she said.
Korda ended up shooting 45 for her first nine holes and bogeyed the last hole, the ninth, to shoot 80.
“I just didn’t really want to shoot 80,’’ she said of her mindset when making the turn. “And I just kept making bogeys. My last two rounds in the U.S. Open Women’s Open have not been good. I ended Sunday (last year) at Pebble (Beach) I think shooting (80) ,and then today I shot 80.
“I’m human. I’m going to have bad days. I played some really solid golf up to this point. Today was just a bad day. That’s all I can say.’’
In addition to the seven-over 10, Korda had six bogeys and three birdies.
Korda was not alone in tough conditions. When she finished as part of the morning wave of players, she was one of seven players who shot in the 80s, including Lydia Ko who also shot 80.
