The last two editions were held at El Caballero C.C. in the suburb of Tarzana. Wilshire is known for its celebrity members, including Will Farrell, Jack Nicholson, Ray Romano and Mark Wahlberg. Howard Hughes was a member until getting kicked out for landing his plane on a fairway when he was late for a date with Katharine Hepburn.

Hannah Green – 2026 JM Eagle LA Championship – Harry How

We can only pick the favourite for next year—Hannah Green, who won twice at Wilshire and took this year’s title at El Cab.

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In that vein, she started using Post-it notes with positive affirmations and put them on her bathroom mirror. She didn’t divulge any of them or what she might write for Sunday’s final round of the U.S. Women’s Open, but the message could be a career-defining one.

Korda finished with three consecutive birdies for a four-under 67 to move into a share of the lead Saturday at six under at Riviera Country Club. She’s the biggest name on the leaderboard, but there’s plenty of them up there. She’s tied at the top with 13-time LPGA winner and past major champion Sei Young Kim.

“I started at the beginning of the year writing positive notes to myself in my bathroom, and I’ve seen a bunch of athletes do that,” Korda said. “So other athletes inspire me, too. I started doing that and it’s a great reminder, and I do it occasionally here and there. I travel with Post-it notes and I stick them on to the mirror when I get ready and I write myself a positive note and that’s my thought for the week.”

The 27-year-old Korda has been in a good place all season, having won three times—including her third major at the Chevron Championship—and finishing in the top 10 in all seven of her events. She’s on pace to make it all eight. Korda, who was two shots off the lead after a terrific 67 on Friday, following a frustrating opening-round 73. After that round, her sister Jessica helped her tweak something with her grip on the driving range, and Korda has been on fire since.

Korda has a chance to make history. If she wins her first U.S. Women’s Open, she’ll be the youngest American player to reach four major wins since a 25-year-old Mickey Wright did it in 1960. Korda also would be three-quarters of her way to becoming only the eighth player to capture the career Grand Slam.

Korda will also be in fine company in the final pairing with co-leader Kim, also a major winner. The South Korean shot a three-under 68 Saturday. The 33-year-old Kim won the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and can draw on that experience.

“I have to focus on the course,” Kim said. “This course you really need patience and just focus on one shot at a time. It’s boring, but I have to do it.”

There are 13 players four shots or closer to the lead, and so many have majors under their belts. It’s a dream leaderboard for the USGA that also includes In Gee Chun and Jennifer Kupcho, who are one shot back of Korda and Kim.

Chun, who shot a two-under 69 Sunday, has won three majors, and it’s something she takes great pride in. Like so many major winners, it’s experience that can pay dividends in a showdown of so many of the world’s best players.

Kupcho seems to have unlocked something special at Riviera, and part of that is because she finally listened to her parents. Kupcho, who was the Chevron Championship the last time it was played in Mission Hills, said this week that they’d been trying to get her to prepare for U.S. Opens by playing the course ahead of time. She didn’t do that until this week and now she’s in contention and said she loves Riviera.

Her parents usually come to the U.S. Women’s Open but hadn’t this year. They surprised her on Saturday with their presence and got to see her shoot a two-under 69 with a chance to win Sunday. She’s carrying a sizzling putter and has gained 1.93 strokes on the field, ranking second.

“They didn’t want to just show up on the first tee, so that was nice of them,” Kupcho said. “They called me this morning and they’re like, ‘oh, you look really close to us.’ I was like, ‘what are you saying?’ And they’re like ‘we’re in Santa Monica.’ So that was pretty cool. Pretty cool to have them here.”

Mexican native Gaby Lopez is in a three-way tie for fifth along with Nasa Hataoka and Ruoning Yin at two shots off the lead. Lopez opened with a first-round 68 and has played solid, consistent golf all week. She’s made a habit to always meet and talk with golf course staff at every tournament she goes to and no doubt her gallery will have the grounds crew and other Riviera workers in it.

Alison Lee, who grew up in nearby Valencia and played at UCLA, hung in there without her best stuff on Saturday. Lee, who has 1-year-old son Levi with her this week, was tied for the lead after 36 holes but a one-over 72 Saturday has her three shots off the lead. The 31-year-old Lee is still searching for her first major.

“It hurts a little bit being in the final group and not being able to play as well as I wanted to,” Lee said. “I really felt like I was just scratching at the wall all day. Didn’t feel like I had my A-game out there, but I made a lot of really good par putts to keep me in it.

“Looking back on my round, one over, I feel like it could have been way higher than that. Going to just try and take positives from that. I love chasing, and so it’ll be fun tomorrow to try and just play really aggressively and try and chase the leaders.”

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Korda shot a four-under 67 in the second round at Riviera Country Club and she’s tied for ninth, just two shots behind co-leaders Alison Lee and Ruoning Yin

Jessica Korda, who is pregnant with her second child, was following her younger sister in her gallery at Riviera. They both were pleased with the results of their range session, and Jessica was with Nelly late on the range Friday as well.

“Actually, a big shout out to my sister because she helped me. I just tried to strengthen my grip a little bit,” Nelly Korda said of the reason behind her improvement. “I just keep laying it off at the top, and I’ve been working on it, gosh, grinding on it for five weeks, and I can’t get it. I don’t know what I’m doing in my swing, so I just try to strengthen my grip. It felt super funky today, but I just trusted and went with it.”

Not only did the change work, it propelled Korda to the lowest round of the day. One day earlier, Korda struggled off the tee, switched out her LeBron James-gifted shoes mid-round and was bewildered after her practice rounds Monday through Wednesday went so well. She shot a two-over 73. A day later, Korda was back to playing like the best player in the world. Part of that was her mindset as well.

“Just tried to have a really easygoing attitude [Friday],” Korda said. “I was definitely going to leave it all out there and grind as much as I could, but I was not going to emphasize on my mistakes too much and just kind of play relaxed golf. That’s kind of when I play my best golf.”

Now, the question is if Korda can continue this trend to close out this major. Last year, she had her best-ever U.S. Women’s Open finish by tying for second at Erin Hills. She played well in the Sunday final round but not enough to overcome Maja Stark.

Korda has won three career majors—including the Chevron Championship in April—but she’s never won this one. The 27-year-old has three wins this year and has finished in the top 10 in all seven of her events. She’s in that kind of a zone.

Her putting was excellent as well. Korda needed just 25 putts in her round and her strokes gained on the greens was 2.22. She was most happy with her ball-striking, but her solid putting can’t be ignored. To win a U.S. Women’s Open, a player has to make all those four to six-foot putts, too.

“My putting? Very happy with it. Made some solid par putts or even bogey putts [Thursday] that kept me in it,” Korda said. “Overall, just really happy with the way my game is trending, especially from [Thursday.]”

If she wins, she might have to credit her sister in her victory speech.

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After playing her opening six holes while starting on Riviera’s back nine, Korda changed shoes on the 16th tee box. This move was made even more noteworthy, however, by what shoes she took off.

The day before, Korda shared on Instagram that she’d received a pair of custom LeBrons. The three-time major champ thanked the four-time NBA MVP and vowed to wear them for the first round. But she wound up going back to her old Nikes after playing the first six holes in one over par.

https://x.com/Sean_Zak/status/206256833297773792twitter

Golf Channel reported that Korda’s caddie asked her trainer to get a different pair of shoes while she was on the 14th hole and she got them a couple holes later. Apparently, the LeBrons, although sharp-looking, were “a little too loose.”

While on hole 16, Nelly Korda switched out her shoes for a different pair from the locker room.@TheAmyRogers reports with more details from Riviera pic.twitter.com/YMZU0zuOc5

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 4, 2026

She played the next 12 holes in one over as well to finish with an opening 73 that has her six shots off Sei Young Kim’s early lead.

“I felt like I had a little too much room,” Korda said after the round. “It’s honestly kind of, I’ve run into this issue. I had that with the Jordans, too. Sometimes when I wear a different color, they just are made a little different, just the spacing is a little different. It’s the exact same shoe. I just wanted to wear these.”

She was asked if the shoes made a difference in her play.

“No, apparently not,” she said with laughter. “I just felt more comfortable in these, yeah.”

Anyway, Nelly, if you’re not going to wear those LeBrons, what size are they? Asking for a friend …

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Nelly Korda walked into the U.S. Women’s Open interview tent at Riviera Country Club on Tuesday looking not like she was going out to play golf but heading for a World Cup match at SoFi Stadium. The World No. 1 donned a star-filled blue football jersey with a huge USA logo and the number 13 on the front and back.

That, of course, is among the most famous numbers in women’s soccer, worn by Alex Morgan during her illustrious international career for the United States. And it just so happened the Morgan was on the grounds at Riviera for the day, though Korda said she hadn’t see her, and apparently wasn’t aware of the connection to 13.

She had her own reasons for the number choice.

“It’s my favourite number,” Korda said. “One, my parents are 13 days apart. Our second major was my 13th win. It’s always been a lot of people think Friday the 13th or 13 has been an unlucky number, but I’ve always loved the number 13.”

She did add, “I know that the World Cup is starting in a week, right? So there’s no better place to kind of be patriotic than the U.S. Women’s Open.”

There is also the fact that on Tuesday, the LPGA announced that Korda has become the first American to clinch a spot for this year’s Solheim Cup—four months before it will be played in the Netherlands.

As for luck, Korda isn’t much in need of that these days. She enters the second major of the year as the hottest player on tour, having won three times in seven starts this season, with another three runners-up. She’s already got her first major of the season in the bag with a victory in April’s Chevron Championship.

The 27-year-old has three major victories total, but has to win the one she covets the most. She came closest than ever last year, trailing by just one shot heading into the back nine on Sunday at Erin Hills. But her putter turned cold and she bogeyed the 18th hole, ultimately tying for second, two shots behind first-time major champion Maja Stark.

It would probably be overstating it say that the single defeat consumed Korda, because she had numerous disappointments in a winless campaign, but it provided even more motivation to stay organized and diligent in her work.

“I was definitely a little bit more motivated after last year not getting a win, but when it came to just my prep, everything stayed the same,” Korda said. “I didn’t go to Asia. I took that time off to really get my body ready, spend some time in the gym, didn’t touch my clubs for a little bit. Then when I thought I was ready, I started really grinding on my game. That’s kind of what I’ve been doing for the past three or four years.”

“Sometimes,” she added, “you get the bounces and the luck goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. But I feel like … athletes, after they’ve had like a tough year, they try to reinvent the wheel, and they try to change so much about their games. I feel like that leads them into trouble. It makes them doubt stuff a little bit more. Maybe you just don’t feel very comfortable in your own skin after you’ve changed a lot about your game, maybe your team as well.

“I always just try to be like, OK, this works. I’m putting in the effort every single day, and I know that if I continue this path, like it will change.”

Korda has taken a couple of weeks off since a T-8 result in Cincinnati that she wasn’t very happy with. But being “off” is very different things to different players. For Korda, she described her non-competitive weeks and that she takes only one day off. For the others, she gets up very early to work out, practice her golf, and get treatment from her trainer Kim Baughman. She finishes around 5 or 6, grabs dinner and goes to bed.

“All those days, you kind of sacrifice your time at home with your friends or with family,” Korda said, “but it’s just so worth it because there’s no better rush of emotions than being in the hunt.”

Korda certainly seemed upbeat and rested in her time with reporters. Her eyes lit up the most when she was asked about the popularity of women’s golf and her own standing as the face of the LPGA.

“Definitely don’t think of myself as the face of the sport, but I would say that it’s growing,” she said. “I’ve seen from my rookie year, or even just maybe 2023, I’ve seen a big interest in girls, little girls coming out, supporting us.

“It’s amazing to see how many dads and little girls come out to our events. … It has grown every single year. There are times where Jay [McDede, her caddie] and I catch ourselves, and we kind of look around to the crowd and we’re like, ‘wow, it’s amazing to see how many people are here on a Thursday.’”

Korda’s mood is likely buoyed what seems a quick affinity for Riviera. Prior to this week, she said she’d played it only one other time, and on a day when the par 3s had temporary greens. Her next tour of it was for a practice round on Monday when she teed off at 6:56 a.m. By her side was her coach Jamie Mulligan, the renowned Southern California instructor who can no doubt visual every nuance of Riviera in his sleep.

“It’s in pristine condition. It’s an amazing place,” Korda said. “Obviously, the men rave about it every year, and for us to get to play this golf course in a major championship in major championship conditions. … I know some golf courses kind of wait until Wednesday to really speed up the greens, but it’s amazing out here. I mean, the vibe of the place, knowing that so much history has been played out here. It’s a great place for us to play.”

With those raves, she said her favorite visual might be the elevated tee shot at No. 1, and the biggest challenge will be how to play the famous drivable par-4 10th.

“You would think like it being a short hole that it’s an easy birdie chance, but that green is just so tough,” she said. “The bunker is tough. Even if you go for it, when they push up the tee, hitting it to the left, it’s a really tough chip shot.”

When the press conference was over, Korda headed out to the range, and it figured she’d get back into golf clothes, right? Nope. There she was striping balls on the range, still in that lucky No. 13 jersey.

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Korda won by four.

Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer at the LPGA’s 2026 Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba

It’s her third victory in 2026. In the other three tournaments she’s played this year, she’s finished second. Last week she won the Chevron Championship. No one would’ve blamed her if she didn’t want to hop on a plane to Mexico after a major win. But she did, and hoisted another trophy. Is this the best golf she’s ever played?

Korda won’t say.

“I’m just enjoying myself and I love the competition,” Korda said Sunday after shooting 69 to win by four shots at 17-under total. “I’m just having fun.”

The refreshed mentality is one that Korda has worked on. In 2024, she had a historic season, winning five times in a row and seven times total. Last year was, naturally, was full of expectation and she didn’t win, but to make matters more confounding, her stats were nearly better than they were in 2024. How could she be technically playing better, yet not winning?

“I was getting frustrated last year on the golf course and I started overanalyzing everything and I started overthinking, and then that was paralyzing me,” Korda said after winning the Chevron Championship last week. “I told myself I don’t ever want to feel like that on a golf course.”

Ishika Samant

Korda, 27, and her long-time caddie, Jason McDede, talked about the tough year. And it helped them come up with a strategy for 2026.

“We were like, yeah, last year wasn’t easy,” Korda said. “It was because I was overanalysing absolutely everything. Sometimes there is a power in just letting go.”

Korda’s ability to let go and play freely was evident in Mexico. She cruised through all four rounds, making only two bogeys over four days. Her second bogey was on the final hole of the tournament. A wayward drive, a provisional into a bunker, a shot out of the bunker that went into the gallery. This could’ve spelled disaster for most, but Korda smiled through it. She let go. And what could’ve been a massive number on the scorecard, was just a tiny, insignificant blemish.

The win puts Korda’s name among some of the game’s greats. Again. She’s the first American woman to win a tournament the week after winning a major since Meg Mallon won the U.S. Women’s Open and the Canadian Women’s Open in 2004. Korda also becomes the youngest American to win 18 times on the LPGA since 23-year-old Nancy Lopez in 1980.

Whether this is Korda’s best golf is for debate, but it is undoubtedly extraordinary golf. And she realizes that golf like this should be enjoyed.

“I’m just happy to be competing out here healthy, motivated. You know, I’m so happy on the golf course. I’m happy off the golf course,” she said. “I just think that, yes, I am living my best life for sure. But golf also humbles you, so I know that I need to enjoy these moments. There have been so many times that legends have told me it smell the roses, so now I have a week off and I can officially smell the roses for a few days.”

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After winning her third major by five shots in wire-to-wire fashion, Korda went with a cannonball, just like she did into the pond at the Club at Carlton Woods when she won this same major two years ago.

Korda shot a final-round two-under 70 and won in wire-to-wire fashion to collect $1.35 million from the $9-million purse. She’s won all 17 of her LPGA events with the same team, a rarity in golf. She made the plunge her caddie Jason McDede, her sister, Jessica, her young nephew Greyson—who wasn’t a fan and cried—her physio Kim Baughman and her manager, Chris Mullhaupt.

 

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It’s been 26 years since an American woman has won three majors. Meg Mallon was the last to reach that number in 2000. She went on to win four when she captured the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open.

“[Majors] are the reason why I started playing this game,” Korda said. “I walked on to the range at the U.S. Women’s Open in 2013 at Sebonack and that’s where I realised, this is what I want to do. You’re playing against the best players in the world, playing a challenging golf course that tests every part of your game, but it’s also testing you mentally.

“You get on to the back nine of a major on a Sunday and there is no bigger rush of emotions that you feel. Right now, the last thing I want to do is eat. I just feel sick to my stomach because there is a major rush of emotion.”

The victory propelled the 27-year-old back to the World No. 1 ranking again, which Jeeno Thitikul took over last summer. She shot 65-65-70-70 for an 18-under 270 total to win by five shots over Patty Tavatanakit and Ruoning Yin. She entered the final round with a five-shot lead.

“It’s not easy going in with that big of a lead,” Korda said. “I think that you have almost like a bigger target because maybe girls are like, ‘we have nothing to lose, so we’re going to go after everything.’ For me, I have to play defense but at some point but also not wanting to get too defensive because I want to play my own game. That’s where I struggled this weekend.

“I wanted to be aggressive on this hole, but if I make a big mistake, I mean, that cuts my lead. That’s not Nelly golf at all. I think that was the challenging point with, where do I still play like Nelly and where do I play a little defensive?”

The strategy worked Sunday, all week and has all year. Korda has been on a heater this season and has finished either first or second in all six of her starts. Let that sink in. She won the weather-shortened Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions to start the season, then finished second in the next three events, followed by the win here in Houston.

Icon Sportswire

“We finished second three times in a row and you work so hard to win,” said an emotional McDede, her caddie. “Not that doubt creeps in, but you’ve got the big lead all week and you expect to win every week. It’s not that easy to win. That’s the tough part about golf. Even if you’re the best at your craft, you don’t win at every week.”

Korda becomes the seventh player in LPGA history to win a third major before turning 28, joining Patty Berg, Louise Suggs, Betsy Rawls, Mickey Wright, Kathy Whitworth and Amy Alcott.

“Nelly is the modern-day woman athlete with her style, athleticism and poise. I’m very happy for her with this second Chevron win,” Amy Alcott said in a text message. “It is not easy to win from start to finish as I did it in ’91 when I won. No doubt you have to be in the groove mentally and physically.”

Korda has collected nine of her 17 career LPGA wins in the last three years. She’s played in the final group on Sunday in every tournament this season. This was her 28th final grouping of her LPGA career. That’s five more than the next closest player on tour since her 2017 rookie season.

The lead in the final round over Tavatanakit was once cut to four shots but never any less than that. The back nine of a major should feature drama and suspense but not with the way Korda is playing these days. She’s only the third player since 1980 to win by two or more shots after leading by multiple strokes after all three rounds.

The only two other players to start an LPGA season with five consecutive starts of second place or better are Karrie Webb in 2000 (through five starts) and Annika Sorenstam in 2001 (through six starts).

Korda has become such a dominant figure over the last few years that she’s getting accolades from other superstars. LeBron James weighed in on social media, cheering Korda on with only a few holes remaining. He was also in Houston as the Los Angeles Lakers were set to play Game 4 of the NBA’s Western Conference first-round playoff game against the Rockets.

3 holes left to play. Bring it on home Nelly!

— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 26, 2026

James has the golf bug and has often tweeted his admiration for Korda and her game.

“It’s so cool to see how many athletes love the game of golf, how many different people it brings together,” Korda said. “… What’s amazing to me is they’re interested in women’s golf. They’re hyping us up and they’re putting us on their socials. They’re watching, and they’re supporting. And then we’re doing that to them, and I think that’s what is beautiful about sports.”

Korda’s five-shot lead was the biggest 54-hole lead of her career, and even though she seemed in complete control, it still tested her nerves. She was the first player to lead this championship by multiple strokes after the first, second and third rounds since Lorena Ochoa in 2008. She’s doing things that require diving back into history. And she finished it off the way she did in Houston two years ago, with a cannonball. (The small pool was a controversial topic this week, because it was put together in a hurry, but a pond is expected to be installed for 2027.)

“So refreshing,” Korda said of winner’s jump. “It was so hot this weekend in Houston. I got to do it with, an addition of Jess this year, compared to 2024 when Jess wasn’t in Houston. If I’m hoisting the trophy, then I’m jumping in. I’m going to keep the tradition alive. Everyone is going to have their own opinion. My opinion is if you kill a tradition it’s going to be gone forever.”

Looking forward, Korda has won three majors but never more than one in the same season. It’s likely now a new career goal that was unlocked in Texas. The next major is in early June the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is later in June at Hazeltine National, another track that should suit her game.

Yes, Korda won seven times in 2024 and, no, she’s not one to compare seasons. But 2026 is starting to look like it could be a year that is as similarly successful.

“I think it’s a testament to who she is,” McDede said. “It’s a testament to how hard she works and our team.”

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Nelly Korda has a chance to win a major in wire-to-wire fashion and she’s got the largest 54-hole lead of her LPGA Tour career to try to do it.

It’s hard to imagine a better scenario for the world’s second-ranked player in the Chevron Championship at Memorial Park Golf Course. Korda has a five-shot lead over Patty Tavatanakit and six-shot margin over Ruoning Yin. Both have also won majors, and the trio will play together in the final group on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Korda—a two-time major winner—shot a two-under 70 Saturday to set herself up well to take a dip in the new small pool at Memorial Park. Yin shot a six under 66, tied for low round of the day, and Tavatanakit shot a three under 69.

Ruoning Yin trades a fist bump with her caddie on Saturday. Sarah Stier

Korda is the first player to lead this championship by multiple shots after the first, second and third rounds since Lorena Ochoa did it 20 years ago. Karrie Webb beat Ochoa in a playoff to win that year in 2006.

Because Korda has played fantastic all year, it’s hard to see her coming back to the field. She’s excited for the opportunity to try to close it out on Sunday. She’s already won once at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and finished second in the other four events.

“I love them,” Korda said of even the close calls. “At the end of the day I’m learning so much about myself, too. On the back nine [on Saturday] I learned that I needed to stay in it and not to kind of focus so much on my mis-hits with my putts. I just needed to keep giving myself opportunities, which I was. I don’t want it to bleed into the other parts of my game where then I start to get so frustrated that it affects my driver, affects my irons. Just didn’t want that at all. I wanted to continue giving myself opportunities even if I wasn’t holing them.

“I was still trying my best, and at the end of the day that’s all I can control. I want to try my best and execute at the best of my ability. I can’t be frustrated with anything but that.”

Tavatanakit was getting up-and-down all day Saturday, and really, she made a habit of scrambling all week. Korda has been ever the consistent player, tee to green. She’s hit 28 of 39 fairways and 43 of 54 greens in regulation this week. Tavatanakit has found just 23 of 39 fairways and only 31 of 54 greens in regulation—12 fewer than Korda.

They’ve each gotten to Sunday’s final pairing in such remarkably different ways with a chance to win but it almost feels like they’re playing different courses. The numbers are that striking.

Korda, who was Tavatanakit’s playing partner, was impressed.

“It was pretty incredible,” Korda said. “She was definitely making some insane up and downs and she has this flow to her chipping and to her entire game where it looks super easy. She looks very confident around the greens.”

If Korda wins or ties for second, she’ll snatch the World No. 1 ranking she lost last summer back from Jeeno Thitikul—who missed the cut here. Korda has played in the final group on Sunday in every tournament this season. It will be the 28th final grouping of her LPGA career. That’s five more than the next closest player on tour since Korda’s 2017 rookie season.

“Nelly has proven so much quality of golf the last few weeks, since she started 2026,” said Gaby Lopez, who shot a bogey-free six under 66 and is nine shots back. “It’s very inspiring. Actually, on the second day that I saw that Nelly was 13 or 14 under, I told myself, ‘hey, it’s out there. Sometimes we just give too much respect to the golf course. Just grip it and rip it. She’s been amazing and very, very awesome to watch and inspiring. Hopefully she can slow down a little bit so we can catch her a little bit more.”

The lead ballooned to eight during Korda’s round on Saturday as she played the front nine at three under. Korda was one over on the back nine. She had one bogey on the front and three-putted for bogey on No. 13. She parred the rest of the holes on the back nine.

Korda told Golf Channel she was missing all of her putts right and that she was headed to the practice putting green after her round.

Tavatanakit and Korda have both taken the plunge (a tradition that started at Poppie’s Pond) and raised the trophy at the Chevron Championship. The 26-year-old Tavatanakit won in 2021 when the tournament was the Kraft Nabisco at Rancho Mirage. Korda won in 2024 in Houston, but that was at The Club at Carlton Woods. The 23-year-old Yin has won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2023 and last year she was in the five-woman playoff here that Mao Saigo won.

What a tournament for Tavatanakit, who didn’t make a bogey until the 49th hole of the Chevron Championship.

“You just do what you’ve got to do. It’s a major championship. It’s playing tough,” Tavatanakit said. “You’re not going to always have your best, but you’ve just got figure out what’s in front of you.”

Korda was confident with her putter the first two rounds when she shot a pair of 65s, and she still made plenty of putts Friday. She tapped in for par at No. 18 to finish her round.

Players played through sweltering heat—as temperatures reached 88 with sauna-like humidity. Yin thought the heat helped her game, and she’s going to need go low and have some help on Sunday. She wore a short-sleeved sweater over a Dri Fit long-sleeve shirt and she chuckled about that choice in the grueling Texas weather. It wasn’t difficult to have a laugh after her round and position for Sunday.

“This course is long, like really long for me because I’m not a long hitter,” Yin said. “A lot of shots, like all the par 3s I got to use like 6-iron, 5-iron, even 4-iron to hit a shot. You just need to play smart and just don’t try to go for the pin every hole and just maybe middle of the green and two-putt and move on. You can make birdies when you have the chance.”

The question is will anyone have the chance to catch Korda.

“I’m just trying to have another day like today,” Yin said. “There is nothing we can control other than the effort and the attitude. I think if I can do those two things well, the result? I don’t really care.”

Added Tavatanakit: “I feel like it’s been fun so far, and there is nothing to look back to. If anything, I have so much to look forward to. Not necessarily like trying to win tomorrow or anything. I feel like I’m really happy with where I am with myself, with my relationship with golf, with everything. I feel like my life is falling into place. I’m very centered internally.

“Good golf, bad golf, doesn’t really do much for me. It’s just a day. I’m just really grateful to get to wake up every morning and figure this game out. It’s been fun.”

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The post Major winners chasing Nelly Korda in Chevron, but they’ve got a lot of catching up to do appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Nelly Korda continued her incredible hot streak, but this is clearly the most impressive round since it’s at the first major of the year.

Korda fired a seven-under 65 in an afternoon group Thursday at the Chevron Championship to put herself atop the leaderboard. She leads by two shots over Somi Lee and Patty Tavatanakit.

“I’m happy. Just day one out of four. A lot can happen,” Korda said. “Happy to be in this position and hoping to move forward.”

Everything was working well for Korda, especially her sizzling putter. She needed just 24 putts to get through the round at Memorial Park Golf Course.

“It feels good. I put in a good bit of work before this event on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday, I came out and putted in the rain when we were allowed to before the pro-am and also Wednesday,” Korda said. “Overall, as everyone does, we all prepped for this event, but it feels good to put a good round together.”

Korda shot the second-lowest opening round of a major championship in her career. Her previous low was a 64 in the Evian Championship in 2022 when she eventually tied for eighth place. She also had a bogey-free round, her first in a major since the second round of the 2024 Women’s British Open.

On her last nine holes [which was the front nine), Korda birdied Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8. Asked what she was happy with, there was plenty to talk about.

“Overall, everything,” Korda said. “Made some good up and downs. Made some good saves for par. I think just overall I was pretty happy with every part of the game. Just maybe hit my driver a little bit far left and right on a couple holes. There wasn’t just one direct miss. But on a golf course like this where the rough isn’t too high I think it’s OK.”

Nelly Korda claims the lead

She's -6 with two holes to go in her opening round pic.twitter.com/Pq8eKB0hlf

— LPGA (@LPGA) April 23, 2026

Her first round this year was a complete about-face from last year. As the defending champion in 2025, Korda shot an opening 77 and had to work hard just to make the cut.

Korda called this public course a bomber’s paradise earlier in the week. Asked how she’d like to see majors setup on the LPGA, Korda needed one word: “Long,” she said. “I think it should test every part of your game. I just think it should just play long and tough.”

Thursday the course setup was 6,651 yards, and Korda delivered. She was four-under on the par-5s.

Last year, Korda didn’t win a tournament after she had seven victories in 2024. This year, she’s already won the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and she finished second in the other three tournaments. She’s trying to win her third major this week.

Korda’s life off the golf course is going well, too. She got engaged to her fiancee’, Casey Gunderson, last year. She’s played with her sister, Jessica Korda, this season as her sister is returning to play some professional golf. Her nephew Greyson was following her for a couple of holes on Thursday as well.

As is customary, she signed autographs for kids on Thursday, then Korda even obliged a volunteer by holding her phone so they could take a selfie of them together.

It was a good day.

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The post ‘Happy’ Nelly Korda (65) in command early at Chevron in search for third major appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Sisters Nelly and Jessica Korda are back together again on the golf course.

The Bradenton, Florida, natives are playing in the Ford Championship in Chandler, Arizona, the first full official LPGA Tour event they’ve played in together since 2023.

World No. 2 Nelly feels in her comfort zone with her sister in the field. Jessica Korda battled a chronic back injury that caused her to go on indefinite leave from the tour and then she gave birth to her son, Greyson, in 2024.

“It’s more of like life outside of the golf course where you’re just a lot more comfortable,” Nelly said in a fun press conference with her sister from Whirlwind Golf Club. “I think when we’re both on the golf course … we’ll check the leaderboards here and there, but I think what really helps and what was a huge actual adjustment for me was kind of like life off the golf course, not having her there. Having that dinner buddy occasionally, playing a practice round together, majority of the weeks playing a practice round together.”

They’re staying together in a rental house, with Nelly doing the cooking and their mom, Regina Rajchrtová, babysitting Greyson.

Jessica, 33, has been out of competition on tour for almost three years. She didn’t swing a club much for the first two years, she said. She’s not returning to the tour full-time, so she’ll be able to adjust to playing again and balancing motherhood a bit at a time. Practice is quite different. It’s more about quality, not quantity. She practices about three days a week.

“I get about an hour and a half in, and Wednesdays I get a decent amount of time in,” Jessica said. “I have a sitter for about five, six hours so I need to make sure I can work out, play some golf, and just get everything done that I need to get done. I definitely prioritize my time with my son over golf, so it’s not nearly as exciting as it used to be practicing. I think I was telling Nelly the other day I was there for literally 45 minutes because I just didn’t have the time. So I just try to see what’s the most important thing that day and go from there.”

The Kordas played in a professional round together for the first time in the 2013 U.S. Women’s Open at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. They’ve played 96 rounds in the same event. Jessica is a mom. Nelly is newly engaged. Life is good.

This season, Nelly, 27, already won the weather-shortened Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and finished second, one shot behind Hyo Joo Kim in Sunday’s Fortinet Founders Cup. She’s playing well. Jessica is hoping to shake off the competitive rust. And their parents will be able to track a lot of steps following both of them on the course again.

“The U.S. Open was I think one of the first ones that they actually paired us together,” Jessica said. “We very rarely get paired total together. We have to play our way into this pairing. We’re always opposite sides of the wave. Our parents have to walk 36. It’s never easy.”

But it sure is fun to be back together on the golf course once again.

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The post After a three-year gap, Korda sisters will finally resume their sibling rivalry in LPGA this week appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.