BARACK OBAMA VISIT INSPIRES US SOLHEIM CUP TEAM FOR 'UNFINISHED BUSINESS'

• 44th US president offers course insight at team dinner
• Khang: ‘It was just cool to have a past president show up’

The US Solheim Cup team hope words of encouragement from Barack Obama can inspire them to complete “unfinished business” when facing Europe this weekend.

Obama was a surprise visitor to a Team USA dinner in Washington DC on Monday evening. The 44th president of the US had scope to offer ­special insight; he has been a member of the ­Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, where the ­Solheim Cup is being contested, since 2017. A relaxed Obama posed for pictures with Stacy Lewis and her US squad.

Europe defeated the US in 2019 and 2021. When this event was last staged, in Spain last year, a tie allowed the Europeans to retain the trophy. “We got some unfinished business,” Nelly Korda, the US team’s world No 1, said.

Megan Khang expanded on Korda’s point. “Some people have asked me what one word would be to describe Team USA this year and I’m just going to say ‘hungry’,” she said.

“Nelly and I, being on the same amount of Solheim Cups and not getting the job done kind of leaves not necessarily the best taste in your mouth. Luckily we didn’t have to wait two years. We have this year to get back at it and I can tell you now we’re more hungry than ever.”

Obama made quite the impression. “He knew all of our names,” Korda said. “He congratulated all of us on all of our success as well.” Khang, the world No 21, was even more effusive. “It was just super cool to have a past president show up to team dinner,” she said.

“It’s pretty incredible he took time out of his day to come meet all of us. I know he plays out of here. The appreciation for the time he gave up to come to see us is incredible.”

Suzann Pettersen, the European captain, denied that recent ­outcomes render her team the favourites here. The world rankings would certainly point towards an overdue US success.

“I think playing away, you’re always an underdog,” the ­Norwegian said. “I think that’s how we’ve always looked at it. If you look at the previous three Solheims, we’ve come out on the high side and we’re going to try and keep that going for sure. I’m very happy to kind of leave the pressure to the Americans to say they are the home favourites.”

A notable name in Lewis’s team is Alison Lee. In her last Solheim Cup appearance, in Germany in 2015, Lee was involved in a hugely dramatic scene after wrongly believing that a putt had been conceded and ­picking up her ball. The European player who clashed with Lee at that point? Pettersen.

Lee gave the impression she is not entirely ready to let sleeping dogs lie when asked how her relationship with Pettersen stands now.

“I’m not going to lie, I haven’t really talked to her at all since then,” Lee said. “I don’t think about it too often. It was a very long time ago. I would say in the moment it was tough.”

OH, NELLY! KORDA MAKES A 10 ON ONE HOLE AND POSTS AN 80 IN U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

AP Photo 

 LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — Nelly Korda was not even three holes into the U.S. Women's Open when she dropped to a crouch and bowed her head in disbelief after her third straight shot — all of them from inside 70 feet away — tumbled into a stream.

She walked off the par-3 12th hole at Lancaster Country Club with a 10.

It didn't get much better from there.

“Making a 10 on a par 3 will definitely not do you any good at a U.S. Open,” Korda said when her nightmare start to the biggest championship in women's golf ended with an 80, leaving her 12 shots out of the lead.

“Just a bad day in the office.”

Korda came into the U.S. Women's Open as an overwhelming favorite, with six victories in her last seven tournaments, including a major that tied an LPGA record for five wins in a row.

That's what made the most imperfect 10 so shocking.

AP Photo 

It didn't help that two groups were on the tee at the 161-yard 12th hole — Korda had about a 25-minute wait — and she watched trouble unfold before she pulled a club. In the group ahead, Gaby Lopez came up short of the water. Ingrid Lindblad's tee shot rolled into the water.

Korda curiously chose 6-iron — most players not as long as her hit 7-iron — and it took a hard hop into a back bunker. And then the trouble began.

Korda said she had a leaf under her golf ball, and the bunker shot came out a little hot and rolled — and rolled — past the front pin, off the false front and disappeared into the stream.

“Couldn't really do anything about that,” she said. “Yeah, just hit some really bad chips, over and over again.”

She played a low pitch up the slope, but it banged into the hill and rolled back down into the water. She took another penalty drop, played another low pitch that was only slightly better, still not nearly enough to avoid rolling back into the water.

She got it right the third time, only to miss an 8-foot putt and take septuple-bogey 10. Korda walked off the green, removed her visor and placed her hand over her forehead for a few seconds, then headed to the 13th tee.

A video crew kept the camera fixed on the walking scorer as “+1” was changed to a “+8” next to her name.

She still had 15 holes ahead of her on a course that didn't present a lot of scoring chances. Only three players from the morning wave broke par at 1-under 69. Her objective?

“I just didn't really want to shoot 80,” Korda said. “And I just kept making bogeys.”

It was her second straight round of 80 in the U.S. Women's Open, separated by 11 months and some 3,000 miles — Korda shot 80 in the final round at Pebble Beach last summer.

The only higher rounds in her career were 81 — one at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship when she was 15, the other at the 2013 U.S. Women's Open at age 14.

The 12th hole was playing the toughest for the opening round. The tee was moved forward and the pin was in the front of a green that slopes from back to front, with a slightly more severe pitch that sends balls into the creek.

It was playing nearly a full stroke over par as the afternoon groups began play. There also was some suspect execution on Korda's part, starting with the club selection.

Sei Young Kim also watched the group ahead hit into the water, though that helped her realize the wind was stronger than it might have felt. She had 8-iron in her hand and then switched to a 7-iron, which she hit to 18 feet behind the flag.

Korda was between 7-iron and 6-iron, and took the stronger club, then moved back one length of the club.

“I just didn't really know what to hit,” she said. “Sometimes it's not really good seeing the girls play in front of you because of them — Gaby up short of the water, and I think Ingrid went into the water. It was just a tough day.”

She also flirted with trouble by playing the low pitch instead of a safer shot behind the hole.

Turns out that was only the start of her problems. She laid up in the rough on the par-5 13th and had to two-putt from 55 feet for par. She missed a 3-foot par putt on the 15th and a 5-foot par putt on the 17th.

AP Photo 

Korda didn't make her first birdie until her 12th hole, No. 3, when she holed a 12-foot putt and smiled with a mock celebration. Two holes later, however, she missed a 4-foot par putt and then nearly found the water on the par-3 sixth, leading to bogey.

She finished with an approach up the hill to the ninth that left her 55 feet away with a fast putt to a front pin. She ran that 12 feet by and missed for her sixth bogey, to go along with one septuple bogey on a hole where she left her mark for all the wrong reasons.

“I'm human,” Korda said. “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.”

- DOUG FERGUSON

PGA TOUR AND LPGA COME TOGETHER FOR MIXED-TEAM TOURNAMENT IN FLORIDA

PGA TOUR AND LPGA TOUR

GRANT THORNTON INVITATIONAL

Site: Naples, Florida.

Course: Tiburon GC. PGA Tour yardage: 7,382. LPGA Tour yardage: 6,595. Par: 72.

Prize money: $4 million. Winners' share: $720,000.

Television: Friday, 1-4 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday, 2-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-5 p.m. (NBC); Sunday, 1-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2-4 p.m. (NBC).

Previous winners: John Daly and Laura Davies (1999).

Last week: Scottie Scheffler won the Hero World Challenge.

Notes: This takes over for what formerly was known as the Shark Shootout, making it the first mixed team event with the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour since the 1999 JC Penney Classic. ... The event is unofficial and will not count toward either tour. ... Lexi Thompson previously played the event with a PGA Tour partner. She is playing this year with Rickie Fowler. Her previous partner, Tony Finau, is playing with Nelly Korda. ... Ludvig Aberg is playing with fellow Swede Madelene Sagstrom. The 16 teams include 11 PGA Tour players who are among the top 50 in the world. Jason Day is the highest-ranked at No. 19. He will be playing with Lydia Ko. The LPGA has five of the top 10 from the women's world ranking, and 10 of the top 20. ... The LPGA had its season-ending Tour Championship at Tiburon two weeks ago. ... Canadian Open champion Nick Taylor is playing with Women's PGA champion Ruoning Yin, while Justin Rose and Georgia Hall make up an all-England team.

Next tournament: The Sentry (PGA Tour) on Jan. 4-7 and Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (LPGA Tour) on Jan. 18-21.

- AP