Storylines: Can Nelly Korda get back in the winner's circle? How will Erin Hills play?

The oldest large title rubric and largest purse successful women's nonrecreational play volition beryllium connected the enactment erstwhile the 80th U.S. Women's Open tees disconnected Thursday astatine Erin Hills Club successful Erin, Wisconsin.

It's the archetypal clip Erin Hills is hosting the Women's U.S. Open, and the people known for its undulating fairways and greens that were created by a glacier centuries agone figures to supply 1 of the astir hard tests of the play for the world's champion golfers.

"It tests each portion of your game," two-time large champion Nelly Korda said Tuesday. "It's precise demanding. It's firm. It's fast, arsenic well. Even if you deliberation you've deed it good, you tin exhale erstwhile you spot it stop. I would accidental adjacent the upwind plays a large relation with the shots retired here, with the putts."

Here are immoderate of the large storylines for the 2nd large title of the season:

Can Nelly get going?

World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler needed a fewer months to get going earlier helium won doubly connected the PGA Tour this season, including his 3rd large astatine the PGA Championship.

It has been the aforesaid benignant of play for satellite No. 1 golfer Nelly Korda connected the LPGA Tour. A twelvemonth ago, Korda had already won six times earlier the 2nd large of the season.

This year, she has yet to assistance a trophy successful 7 starts.

"Yeah, it's been a precise absorbing twelvemonth for me," Korda said Tuesday. "Definitely person had a spot of bully and a spot of bad. Kind of a premix successful benignant of each lawsuit that I've played in. I would accidental conscionable patience is what I've learned and benignant of going backmost location and truly locking successful and practicing hard."

It's not arsenic if Korda hasn't played good this season. She had a top-25 decorativeness successful each but 1 of her starts, including runner-up successful the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions successful the play opener. She tied for 5th successful her past commencement astatine the Mizuho Americas Open.

Korda ranks 2nd connected the LPGA Tour successful strokes gained: full (2.40) and disconnected the tee (1.03) and is ninth successful tee to greenish (1.59). She besides ranks successful the apical 25 successful attack (0.65) and putting (0.86).

She'll beryllium looking for a amended effect successful the U.S. Open. She has 3 missed cuts, a necktie for eighth and a necktie for 64th successful her past 5 starts. Last twelvemonth astatine Lancaster Country Club successful Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Korda carded a 10 connected the par-3 12th hole, her 3rd spread successful the archetypal round. She carded a 10-over 80.

Korda rebounded to station an even-par 70 successful the 2nd circular but inactive missed the cut.

"Oh, yeah, tons of ups and downs," Korda said. "I mean, it's the biggest trial successful the crippled of golf. Definitely has tested maine a lot. I emotion it."

Korda volition play the archetypal 2 rounds with England's Charley Hull and Lexi Thompson. They'll tee disconnected connected No. 1 astatine 2:25 p.m. ET connected Thursday and connected No. 10 astatine 8:40 a.m. connected Friday.

"At the extremity of the day, this is wherefore we bash what we bash is to play these play courses successful these conditions, to trial our games successful each aspect," Korda said. "Not adjacent conscionable our games, our intelligence [strength], arsenic well. I bask it, and I'm excited to spot what this week is going to bring."

Ko eyeing vocation Grand Slam

Lydia Ko tin go the eighth golfer successful LPGA past to implicit the vocation Grand Slam if she wins the U.S. Women's Open successful her 14th try. She has a brace of top-10 finishes successful the tourney and missed her archetypal chopped past year.

Only 27, Ko has already collected 3 large title victories astatine the 2015 Evian Championship, 2016 Chevron Championship and 2024 Women's British Open.

Ko is playing with defending U.S. Women's Open champion Yuka Saso and amateur Rianne Malixi successful the archetypal 2 rounds. They'll commencement connected the No. 1 tee astatine 8:40 a.m. ET connected Thursday and connected No. 10 astatine 2:25 p.m. connected Friday.

"I deliberation arsenic agelong arsenic I'm playing, it's ever bully to person a goal, truthful that erstwhile I'm moving connected things, I'm ever going guardant and not trying to think, 'Oh, did I this, truthful who cares?'" Ko said. "So it's conscionable much to conscionable support myself much motivated. Hopefully not, but adjacent if I ne'er triumph a U.S. Women's Open, I don't deliberation I'm going to aftermath up from my slumber and go, 'I ne'er won.'"

Louise Suggs, Mickey Wright, Pat Bradley, Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb, Annika Sorenstam and Inbee Park won 4 antithetic majors successful their career. Webb is the lone 1 who won antithetic majors successful completing the ace vocation Grand Slam.

Sweden's Anna Nordqvist, who won the 2009 Women's PGA Championship, 2017 Evian Championship and 2021 Women's British Open, tin besides implicit the vocation Grand Slam this week.

Saso's three-time try

Saso volition effort to go lone the seventh golfer to triumph the nationalist title 3 times.

Betsy Rawls (1951, 1953, 1957, 1960) and Wright (1958, 1959, 1961, 1964) finished archetypal successful the U.S. Women's Open 4 times, portion Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1948, 1950, 1954), Susie Maxwell Berning (1968, 1972, 1973), Hollis Stacy (1977, 1978, 1984) and Sorenstam (1995, 1996, 2006) won 3 times.

"I could telephone myself a two-time large champion, and amended than that, two-time U.S. Women's Open champion," Saso said of winning past year. "I deliberation it's a large tourney to person beside my name, and, I don't know, possibly due to the fact that I dreamed of winning this, and winning it doubly is overmuch better."

Saso is already the lone golfer to seizure the Harton S. Semple Trophy portion representing 2 antithetic countries. When Saso defeated Nasa Hataoka connected the 3rd spread of a playoff astatine the 2021 U.S. Women's Open astatine the Olympic Club successful San Francisco, she represented the Philippines, wherever she was born.

Last year, Saso was playing for Japan, her father's homeland, erstwhile she bushed Japan's Hinako Shibuno by 3 strokes with a 72-hole full of 4-under 276.

Saso had dual citizenship successful some countries earlier having to renounce her Filipino citizenship successful 2022 nether Japanese nationality law, which she was required to bash earlier turning 22.

Erin Hills is simply a large course

Erin Hills Golf Course, located astir 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee, is simply a par-72 people that volition play 6,829 yards. It's the second-longest people connected the LPGA Tour truthful acold this season.

Erin Hills hosted the 2017 U.S. Open, which Brooks Koepka won with a 72-hole full of 16-under 272.

It doesn't fig to play that easy this week, particularly if the upwind blows. There's a accidental of thunderstorms Friday with 10 to 20 mph winds. Forecasts telephone for sunny skies and 5 to 10 mph winds connected the weekend.

"It's decidedly a truly large course," said 2023 U.S. Women's Open champion Allisen Corpuz. "I deed a batch much hybrids and woods than I would person wanted to into greens [during Monday's signifier round]. I deliberation conscionable immoderate major, ball-striking is ever truly important. I deliberation particularly with the greenish complexes present [and] a batch of run-offs, conscionable a fewer choky fairways that volition decidedly beryllium cardinal here."

Erin Hills doesn't person a azygous h2o hazard, but determination are 132 soil bunkers and 3½-inch fescue rough, which volition marque things tricky.

"It's precise demanding disconnected the tee with each the bunkers," Korda said. "The bunkers are not easy. Sometimes you conscionable don't adjacent person a stance successful them due to the fact that they're truthful small. Then the shots into the greens and besides the greens. Just an wide bully trial of your full game."

The United States Golf Association has alternate tees disposable if the upwind doesn't stroke oregon the people gets wet.

"We besides support a precise adjacent oculus connected firmness, and evidently speed, bedewed conditions, precise windy conditions," said Shannon Rouillard, the USGA's elder manager of championships. "It's truly important that the trial remains comparative and due to the conditions that we're going to face, whether they're bedewed oregon whether we're going to acquisition immoderate greater upwind conditions."