HOUSTON – Nelly Korda’s the great season of the championship open from stress and everyone holding their breath.
Starting on the par-4 10th at Memorial Park, Korda faced a six-foot sliding putt for par. Lose that, and the world number 2 would start Chevron Championship with an unlucky bogey and trailing the eight-ball out of the gate, leaving everyone to wonder if a repeat of a shaky 2025 major season was on deck. She took a deep breath and rolled it calmly over her heart. Another good seven-footer awaited her on her second hole of the day, the par-3 11th, and again Korda answered the bell.
Just like the LPGA needed it.
It’s unfair to put the tournament on Korda’s shoulders. But she’s the biggest star in the women’s game, and if the LPGA is going to tap into new audiences, she needs their biggest needle to be a draw in her biggest weeks.
of The LPGA needed Nelly Korda to provide electricity this week at Memorial Park. After two strong expectations to start her championship, Nelly Korda succeeded.
That bird no. 12 and no. 16 to return to 2-under. Then, she hit the gas. Korda wedged the par-5 first to get to 3 under and then hit a 5-iron on the par-3 second hole to five feet for another birdie.
“I hit it good,” said a beaming Korda after her round. “These are the shots like you, oh, my God, I love golf.”
Another birdie followed at the third to move Korda into a tie for the early lead. After three straight pars, Korda arrived at the par-3 7th hole and hit a lofty 6-iron to five feet for another birdie. A final birdie on the par-5 8th meant Korda signed for an opening round of 7 under and a two-shot lead. It was the second-lowest opening round in a major of Korda’s career and her first bogey-free round in a tournament since the second round of the 2024 AIG Women’s Open.
A year ago, Korda was going through the early part of a “weird” and winless 2025 season. It was a campaign that only saw him really struggle in one of the top five companies. It was disappointing, but it also served as a reminder to Korda that she already has everything she needs. She has long held the key to her success and has the support system around her to keep her steady through the downs that come naturally in the world of professional golf.
“I would say you get a lot more criticism when you’re at the top of your game and having a tight circle, you’re very grateful for the people you have around you,” Korda said at last year’s CME Group Tour Championship. “The circle gets a little smaller, but I think I have a great circle. I would say I’m extremely, extremely lucky for the people I have around me. At the end of the day, the life we ​​live and perform in front of people, it’s extremely important to have that stability in your life.”
That circle, and the consistency in it, has helped Nelly Korda find Nelly Korda so far this year. After repeatedly ending up on the wrong side of golf’s “good line” in 2025, Korda got back to work. She refined her schedule, kept the pedal down by working out with her longtime coach David Whelan in the offseason, made sure her body was ready for another season on the field and kept her girth the same.
All this has seen Korda start the year with one win the weather-shortened Tournament of Championsfollowed by three-time runners-up going into the first major of the year. Her game and mind are where they should be.
“With golf, I feel like you can do work,” Korda said Tuesday before the tournament. “Like I always say, control what you can control, and am I working hard? Am I pushing myself every day mentally and physically? Other than that, I can’t control anything. I can’t control the weather. I can’t control what other girls do, what other girls shoot. I can’t control if I hit a good shot and I’m in a divot.
“Like there’s so many things in this game that you just can’t control. I try to put it all out of my mind and be like, OK, I’m going to focus on what I can control, and that’s it.”
Nelly Korda checked everything she could to be ready for this week. She took last week off to work more with Whelan and brought trainer David Angelotti out to Houston for the week. She played 18 holes on Monday and then putts on wet greens on Tuesday after the storms had passed. She saw a long and demanding golf course that suited her strengths. All of this was vital to what happened on Thursday.
But Nelly Korda is also free and loose. The frustrations of last year are gone. She has opened the season on a tear and is already two shots ahead on a course she just split in the first 18 holes.
“I’m just happy,” Korda said after her round, about the mixed feelings this year brings before praising each member of her team, from Whelan to longtime caddy Jason McDede. “I think there’s a comfort and happiness within me that makes me happy on the golf course.”
A cheap and easy Nelly Korda was released this week in Houston. That’s bad news for the rest of the field, but just what the LPGA needed.
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