Jessica Korda dressed for success but in borrowed clothes at Muirfield

Jessica Korda may have been borrowing clothes this week but, in terms of scoring, the American was one of the best-dressed players in the opening round of the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield.

Jessica Korda in action during the first round of the AIG Women's Open at Muirfield. Picture: Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images.

Her polished 66, which was illuminated by an eagle-3 at the 17th, was bettered only by Japan’s Hinako Shibuno, the 2019 winner at Woburn, on a day when a westerly wind provided a consistent challenge on the East Lothian coast.

Korda, the older sister of world No 3 Nelly, is still waiting to be reunited with her suitcase after playing in the Amundi Evian Championship in France a fortnight ago.

It’s somewhere in Zurich, where she travelled from en route to Scotland and the inconvenience has left her having to borrow clothing from fellow players.

“If anyone knows anyone at the Zurich airport that would like to put my suitcase on the one flight a day that they have coming into Edinburgh, I'd deeply appreciate it,” she said after a solid start in the $7.3 million event.

“I know where it is. I have an air tag on it. I can't get anyone to actually go get it. Monday I wore Megan Khang's pants. Tuesday, I wore my sister's pants and Wednesday I wore Alison Lee's pants. And today I'm wearing FootJoy pants.”

It’s not just trousers she’s missing. “Sponsor's hats,” she said. “Wearing a Muirfield hat right now. A lot of my warm stuff. My hand warmers. My hands get really cold so I wear gloves all the time. I've got a lot of heat patches for my lower back and my vitamins, don't have that.”

Now the event is underway, she’s not too worried about how she looks. “I gave up on it by Wednesday,” she insisted. “If it comes here, great, but if not, it is what it is. At this point I'm playing a golf tournament.”

It’s so far, so good, having followed an early dropped shot with four birdies before picking up that late bonus from 20 feet. “You have to stay on it here at all times,” said Korda of this week’s test.

“It's links golf. I swear, every time we come to Scotland, it's just like the same stuff. You've just got to be really prepared and take it for what it is.”