Nelly Korda fought hard throughout Thursday’s round at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, shooting a 3-under 69 to put her one stroke ahead of the rest of the field.
Korda started her day on the back nine and finished in 33. She recorded four birdies in her first five holes.
Despite shooting a 69, Korda, a Florida resident, struggled throughout the first round. The Douglas fir, redwood and hemlock trees on the Sahalee Country Club course helped Korda score.
“When you’re hitting offline and you try to play aggressively, it hurts you,” Korda said after the first round. “I thought overall I played pretty well. I took my chances when I had them and played it safe for most of the round.”
She birdied Nos. 13 through 15 to get to 3 under, and Korda got to 4 under with a birdie on the fourth, but the 25-year-old lost two strokes on the fourth after the 14-time LPGA champion made a double bogey.
“This golf course is very tough overall. We had to go up and down a lot,” Korda said.
Korda is a 15-foot Birdie Putt He got back to 3 under on the ninth hole, giving him the momentum he needed for the day.
That’s a much better start than her last major championship start. Three weeks ago, Korda shot 80 in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club. She shot 70 on Friday, 10 strokes better than par, but missed the cut for the first time in the 2024 season.
The two-time major champion also missed the cut at last week’s Major LPGA Classic with shots of 76 and 67. It was the first time this season that the world No. 1 player has missed the cut in consecutive tournaments, following her sixth win of the year at the Mizuho Americas Open.
Korda made history with five straight wins before settling for a T7 finish at the Cognizant Founders Cup.
She will join Luoning Yin and Hannah Green in the second round of the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship at 1:28pm PST/4:28pm ET.
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow us for more golf articles. Follow You can follow us on all major social platforms. You can also follow us on Twitter Follow Instagram: @savannah_leigh_sports
