Nelly Korda is freed up at the Chevron Championship. That’s bad news for the field

HOUSTON — Nelly Korda’s major championship season opened with stress, and with everyone holding their breath.

Starting on the par-4 10th at Memorial Park, Korda faced a six-foot sliding putt for par. Miss it, and the World No. 2 would start the Chevron Championship with an inauspicious bogey and fall behind the eight-ball out of the gates, leaving everyone wondering if a repeat of a shaky 2025 major season was on deck. She took a deep breath and calmly rolled it in the heart. Another seven-foot par putt awaited her on her second hole of the day, the par-3 11th, and once again Korda answered the bell.

Just as the LPGA needed her to.

It’s unfair to put the tour on Korda’s shoulders. But she’s the biggest star in the women’s game and as the LPGA continues to chase inroads with new audiences, it needs its biggest needle to be a draw on its biggest weeks.

The LPGA needed Nelly Korda to provide electricity this week at Memorial Park. After two gritty par saves to start her championship, Nelly Korda delivered.

She birdied No. 12 and No. 16 to turn in 2-under. Then, she hit the gas. Korda stuffed a wedge into 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 that one good,” a beaming Korda said after her round. “Those are the shots that you’re like, oh, God, I love golf.”

Another birdie followed at the third to get Korda into a tie for the early lead. After three straight pars, Korda arrived at the par-3 7th hole and hit a towering 6 iron to five feet for another birdie. A final birdie at 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 major 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 saw her truly contend at only one of the five majors. It was frustrating but also served as a reminder for Korda that she already has all she needs. She has long held the key to her own success and has the support system around her to keep her stable in the downturns that naturally arrive in the world of professional golf.

“I would say that you receive a lot more criticism when you’re on top of the game, and having a tight-knit circle, you’re very grateful for the people you have around,” Korda said at last year’s CME Group Tour Championship. “The circle does get a little smaller, but I think I have an amazing circle. I would say I’m extremely, extremely lucky for the people that I have around me. At the end of the day, the life that we live and performing in front of people, it is super important to have that stability in your life.”

That circle, and the consistency in it, have helped Nelly Korda find Nelly Korda so far this year. After constantly finishing on the wrong side of golf’s “fine line” in 2025, Korda got back to work. She refined her schedule, kept the pedal down practicing with her longtime coach David Whelan in the offseason, made sure her body was ready for the grind of another season and kept her circle the same.

All of that has seen Korda start the year with a win at the weather-shortened Tournament of Champions, followed by three straight runner-up finishes heading into the year’s first major. Her game and mind are where they need to be.

“With golf, I feel like you can put in the work,” Korda said on Tuesday before the tournament. “Like I always say, control what you can control, and am I working hard? Am I putting in the effort every single 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 are so many things on this game that you just can’t control. I try to just take that all out of my mind and be like, Okay, I am going to focus on what I can control, and that’s it.”

Nelly Korda controlled all she could to be ready for this week. She took last week off to work more with Whelan and brought her putting coach David Angelotti out to Houston for the week. She played 18 holes on Monday and then putted on wet greens on Tuesday once the thunderstorms had passed. She saw a long, demanding golf course that played to her strengths. All that was vital to what transpired Thursday.

But Nelly Korda is also free and loose. The frustrations of last year are flushed. She’s opened the season on a tear and is now already two shots ahead on a course she just ripped apart in the opening 18 holes.

“I’m just happy,” Korda said after her round, about the different feelings this year brings before praising every member of her team, from Whelan to longtime caddie Jason McDede. “I think just there is a comfort and happiness inside me that makes me happy on the golf course.”

A free and easy Nelly Korda has been unleashed this week in Houston. That’s bad news for the rest of the field — but exactly what the LPGA needed.