SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – It was the Olympic performance you’d expect from the world No. 1 and most-recent women’s gold medal winner — 6 under par through 15 holes and within arm’s reach of the lead at the Olympic golf competition — when the inexplicable happened.

Between clubs at the par-3 16th hole during Thursday’s second round at Le Golf National, Nelly Korda went with the stronger option, a “chippy” 9-iron. That’s when things began to unravel.

Korda, who won the gold medal three years ago in Tokyo, said the shot “came out a little heely” and landed short of the green in a water hazard. Her third shot from the drop zone wasn’t much better and left her a plugged lie in a bunker which led to another poor shot over the green and, eventually, a quadruple-bogey 7.

“I played 16 holes of really, really solid golf. I was 6 under to that point and I just hit my shot a little out right and a little heely. I was a little hesitant being in between clubs,” Korda explained. “Just hit a really poor wedge shot [from the drop zone] and I was plugged in the bunker. Those bunkers are really firm and when I tried to be a little aggressive with it, my ball just shot to the back of the green. Just a series of unfortunate events happened in a row.”

The miscue was compounded by a three-putt bogey at the par-4 17th hole and Korda finished with a 2-under 70 and a share of 12th place, six shots off the lead. She was, however, quick to point out that fellow world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was in a similar position last Sunday during the men’s competition.

“I still have 36 more holes and anything can happen. I'm trying to see the positive in this. You know, Scottie came back, shot 9 under and he won [the gold medal],” she said.