When you’re playing as well as Nelly Korda, you don’t get those Oh, no feelings if you make a mistake.
Korda left a shot in the fairway bunker on the par-4 first Friday and made double bogey to start Round 2 of the Chevron Championship.
“I actually didn’t feel bad at all,” she said. “Sometimes when you start to make mistakes you just don’t really feel confident or you don’t feel that great. But I just kind of, you know, told myself that it’s the first hole of the tournament today.
“There is still so much golf to be played and there is still a good bit of gettable par 5s.”
She got ‘em all.
Korda birdied the four par 5s en route to a 3-under 69. At 7 under par, she is one off the lead, held by Atthaya Thitikul (67) and Jin Hee Im (67), entering weekend play.
Korda’s round was reminiscent to her opener. On Thursday, she bogeyed her first and then made six birdies and a bogey. Friday, it was a double beginning – and then six birdies and a bogey.
The 25-year-old is trying to win her fifth consecutive LPGA Tour start, a stretch that dates to January. She felt a little fatigue in Round 1 but bypassed practice, went back to her residence, “had treatment, ate my Uber Eats and went to sleep.”
The result was a fresher feeling on Friday, despite the initial flub.
Korda bounced back from the double with birdies at the second and fourth holes. After a dropped shot at the seventh, she recovered again with birdies on Nos. 8 and 9. Two more on the back – both coming on par 5s – put her in position for her second major title (2021 KPMG Women’s PGA).
Nelly Korda grabs a share of the lead at 6-under with a birdie on 13. 📈
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) April 19, 2024
📺: Golf Channel & @peacock | @Chevron_Golf pic.twitter.com/sM7PuSrQXU
In two rounds this week, she has hit 22 of 28 fairways, 28 of 36 greens in regulation and is averaging 29 putts a day.
“I think having the mentality that there are opportunities out there and I’m hitting it good, and that there are some wedge shots, and making sure that I don’t get too down on myself is really important during a major,” said Korda.
“It takes a lot of patience to win. At the end of the day, the person that makes the least amount of mistakes or recovers the best from their mistakes ends up usually winning.”
Korda would know. She’s trying to join Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) as the only players to win five straight LPGA starts.
Given her position through 36 holes in Texas, many believe that’s a formality.
But not Korda.
“I’m just at the halfway point right now. The amount of golf that I’ve played, I still have that to go. There is still a lot of golf left and anything can happen,” she said.
“Just going to stick to my process and vibe with it, is what my coach says.”
