HOUSTON – Nelly Korda doesn’t make changes. it the team has been constant for most of her career: coach, caddy, physio, support system, etc. This consistency keeps the world number 2 free and grounded. But sometimes small changes are needed to create positive momentum when things are stuck.
Sometimes these changes are external. Sometimes there are internal changes that need to be made.
after a disappointing 2025 season that saw her go winless, Korda entered this season vowing to be different – in her mind. She wanted to approach golf at the highest level differently, hoping to unlock the best in her world-class game.
“I think this year I just wanted to have a different mindset, if I’m going to get in trouble, I’m going to figure it out,” Korda said Friday after her second round in Chevron Championship. “It’s not like you look at something and, excuse my French, and say I’m f–d. There are times when I’ve had this and now I’m like, I’m going to get it. So that’s my biggest takeaway from last year and the years before. I don’t want to have that mindset. I want to be like, OK, I’m going to understand a lot and not stress.”
So far, this change of mindset has led to the best of Nelly Korda in the first degree of the year.
Korda fired an opening shot 65 in Memorial Park on Thursday and then came out early on Friday and resumed shredding Tom Doak’s model. She made birds at 1, 3 and 9 around a single boy at six. With her lead at four making the turn, Korda turned on the jets. She holed a tight iron on No. 11 for a birdie and added bogeys on 12 and 14. When she rolled in birdie shots on 17 and 18, she was at 14 under and her lead was seven. This is the lowest 36-hole major score of Korda’s career and the seven-stroke lead is the largest in Chevron Championship history after 36 holes.
“I’m comfortable with my game. I’m also very comfortable — I think where I’m most comfortable is definitely with my mindset of knowing when I mess up, I’m going to figure it out; trying to have that ease,” Korda said. “Sometimes I think you get stuck in the desire to play well and the desire to always be on top, that you have a kind of tension of not wanting to make a mistake.
“I think there’s a power in knowing that it’s okay to make a mistake and just bounce back.”
This course suits Korda’s eye and suits her strengths. After heavy rain washed out the course on Tuesday, Memorial Park is playing even longer than originally planned. That gives Korda an advantage with her length, especially on five par-5s, which she has played at 7 under through two rounds.
But Korda has also attacked the first major of the year with a plan not to take any unnecessary risks. In the past, Korda would look to go to flags that invited big numbers if the putt wasn’t perfect, believing she needed to build momentum. At Memorial Park, she has been comfortable playing away from danger when necessary, knowing there will be moments for her to hit and that, as long as she misses in the right spots, she will be in control.
One such moment came Friday when Korda birdied the par-3 15th hole. Fresh off three birdies in four holes, Korda was riding a wave and could look to add an exclamation point. But with the pin stuck left and a steep run into a lurking water hazard, Korda opted to play her tee shot well to the right of the pin and settle for a long delay.
“I wasn’t looking at the left side going down,” Korda said of No. 15. “Sometimes I would. Sometimes if I wanted to be aggressive I’d try to hit it 10 yards to the right, but I think it’s also maturing.”
Part of maturity is knowing when help is needed.
Late last year, as a disappointing campaign came to a close, Korda wanted help with her setting, the one aspect of her game that seemed to be a barrier to greater success.
She called on celebrity trainer Phil Kenyon for some advice. Kenyon met him at the Kroger Queen City Championships in September and wanted Korda to make a big difference.
“I was low on my left side and the week of Cincinnati Phil looked at my position and told me I needed to get back to normal,” Korda recalled. “The week of the event. I said, ‘Okay, I’ve been left-handed for a really long time. We’ll see how it goes.’ It worked.”
But Kenyon is a sought-after guru—he works with Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick, among others—so he suggested Korda reach out to David Angelotti, with Kenyon overseeing things on occasion. Korda agreed and the new partnership was created – an added member to the Korda circle.
“What we really work on is the simple things: Reading the greens; getting it over my initial target,” Korda said. “He’s finally someone who’s giving my practice a sense of structure. Everything I do is very structured with him. I feel like there’s no gray area. It’s black and white. For me, there’s a stillness in everything we do together that I know is this and that.”
Angelotti came out to Houston this week to prepare with Korda. They waited out the rain on Tuesday to feel the wet greens. Through 36 holes, Korda’s boiler has been strong. Outside of two short misses on Friday, Korda has done almost everything he’s seen. All this has her seven shots clear of Ryann O’Toole and amateur Farah O’Keefe at the halfway mark, with a third major championship in her sights.
“You’ve got a target on your back in a sense, but I like to enjoy it, too,” Korda said with a smile on the hunt this weekend.
Nelly Korda knows that a lot can happen over 36 holes. For him, the process does not change. Her plan has him on the doorstep. Now, she just needs to run to the finish line this weekend in Houston.
“>
