Nelly Korda has been released from the Chevron Championship. That’s bad news on the field

HOUSTON – Nelly Korda’s big championship season opened with pressure and everyone holding their breath.

From the 4th 10th at Memorial Park, Korda faced a sliding six-foot putt for par. Missed, and World No. 2 would start the Chevron Championship with an unlucky bogey and be behind eight balls out of the gates, leaving everyone wondering if a rematch of the big swinging 2025 season was on the cards. Take a deep breath and gently fold it into your heart. Another seven-foot par putt awaited him on his second hole of the day, on the 3 11th, and Korda once again answered the bell.

Just as the LPGA needed him.

It is unfair to put the tour on Korda’s shoulders. But she is the biggest player in the women’s game and if the LPGA is going to tap into new audiences, it needs its biggest needle to be successful in its biggest weeks.

The LPGA needs Nelly Korda to power this week at Memorial Park. After two gritty pars to start her tournament, Nelly Korda delivered.

He entered No. 12 and No. 16 to answer at 2-under. Then he hit the gas. Korda wedged the par-5 first to get to 3 under and hit a 5-iron on the par-3 second hole to five feet for another birdie.

“I hit it well,” said a beaming Korda after his round. “Those are pictures where you’re like, oh, God, I love golf.”

Another birdie followed at the third for Korda to take the lead. After three straight birdies, Korda reached the par-3 7th hole and hit a lofted 6-iron to five feet for another birdie. A final birdie on the par-5 8th meant Korda signed off with a 7-under opening round and a two-shot lead. It was the second-lowest opening round of Korda’s major career and her first bogey-free round in a major since the second round of the 2024 AIG Women’s Open.

Last year, Korda was going through the first half of the 2025 “strange” season with no wins. It was a campaign that saw him enter only one of five contests. It was frustrating but it also served as a reminder to Korda that she still had everything she needed. He has long held the key to his success and has a support system around him to keep him steady through the downs that come naturally in the world of professional golf.

“I can say that you get a lot of criticism when you’re on top of the game, and to have a close circle, you’re very grateful for the people you have around,” said Korda at the CME Group Tour last year. “The circle is getting a little smaller, but I think I have an amazing circle. I would say I’m extremely, extremely lucky in the people I have. Ultimately, the life we ​​live and do in front of people, it’s very important to have that stability in your life.”

That rally, and consistency in it, has helped Nelly Korda get Nelly Korda so far this year. After always finishing on the wrong side of golf’s “good line” in 2025, Korda went back to work. He’s tweaked his schedule, kept the floor clean and trained with his longtime coach David Whelan in the offseason, made sure his body was ready for another season and kept his circle the same.

All of that enabled Korda to start the year with a victory in the weather-shortened Tournament of Champions, followed by three consecutive finishes in the first major of the year. His game and his mentality is where it needs to be.

“With golf, I feel like you can put in the work,” Korda said Tuesday before the tournament. “Like I always say, control what you can’t control, and am I working hard? Am I putting in the effort 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 the divot phase.

“Like there’s a lot of things you can’t control in this game. I try to just put all of that out of my mind and be like, OK, I’m going to focus on what I can control, and that’s it.

Nelly Korda managed everything she could to get ready for this week. He took a week off last week to work more with Whelan and brought his trainer David Angelotti to Houston for the week. He played 18 holes on Monday and putts on wet greens on Tuesday after the thunderstorms passed. He saw a long, difficult golf course playing to his strengths. All of that was important in what happened on Thursday.

But Nelly Korda is also relaxed and comfortable. The frustration of last year is gone. He opened the season on a tear and now he has already blown two shots on the course he just tore through the opening 18 holes.

“I’m just happy,” Korda said after his round, about the mixed feelings coming into this year before praising all the members of his team, from Whelan to longtime drummer Jason McDede. “I think there’s a comfort and joy within me that makes me happy on the golf course.”

The free and easy Nelly Korda was released this week in Houston. That’s bad news for the entire field but exactly what the LPGA needed.