Nelly Korda was cruising to another Olympic gold medal then disaster struck on 16

Nelly Korda cruised into contention to successfully defend her gold medal in the Olympic Golf Competition before disaster struck on the par-3 16th.

Team USA's Korda, 26, opened with a level-par 72 on Wednesday and then moved serenely into contention on the front nine of her second round on Thursday. 

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The runaway World No.1 made four birdies on the outward nine and then added two more on the 11th and 15th to move into T2 and hot on the heels of 36-hole leader Morgane Metraux of Switzerland. 

But then the wheels well and truly came off for Korda on the par-3 16th.

She plunged her ball into the lake short of the green and then hit her third shot into the greenside bunker. 

To compound things, the ball plugged in the sand. 

She splashed out to the back of the green and then three-putted from there.

It all added up to a quadruple-bogey seven to send Korda from 6-under par for the tournament to 2-under par.

Korda would then go on to bogey the par-4 17th but to her credit she got that shot back with a seventh birdie of the round at the par-5 18th. 

She signed for a 2-under 70, which left her 2-under par for the tournament in T12 with two rounds to play. 

Korda is still very much in the hunt to successfully defend her gold medal that she won in Tokyo in 2021. 

But she will start the weekend six shots off the pace.

Metraux of Switzerland leads the way on 8-under par, one shot ahead of Ruoning Yin of China. 

New Zealand's former World No.1 Lydia Ko is three back on 5-under par in solo third. 

Home favourite Celine Boutier had also been cruising for much of the round but she endured a horror three-hole stretch on the back nine to send her back into the chasing pack.

Overnight leader Boutier was 1-under par for her round and 8-under par for the tournament as she boarded the 13th tee.

But she went double-bogey-double to quickly fall back to 3-under par. 

She parred the last three holes and she now trails by five heading into the weekend. 

Team GB's Charley Hull had been going much better in the second round after a dismal first-round 81.

But the World No.11 finished bogey-par-double to hand back much of her good efforts on Friday and she signed for a 1-under 71.

It leaves Hull 8-over par for the tournament and 16 shots off the pace heading into the weekend. 

Hull confirmed after the first round that her shoulder injury from having fallen out of the shower last month had played its part in her slow start.

She also admitted on the eve of the tournament that not being able to smoke cigarettes on the course this week would likely affect her chances.

Team GB's other participant Georgia Hall is also struggling this week at 4-over par following consecutive rounds of 74. 

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