Nelly Korda in Control Early at Chevron Championship

HOUSTON, Texas — Golf is better when the best in the world are playing at their best, and that's certainly the case after day one of the Chevron Championship.

Nelly Korda, one of the most beloved faces in women's golf, currently holds a two shot lead after a stellar, blemish-free opening round of 65. The World No. 2 hit seven of 13 fairways, was 13 of 18 in greens and regulation and only took 24 putts to complete her round.

It was a pretty clinical day for Korda who was quite pleased with how she performed. When asked about what impressed her about her fast start Korda said, "Overall everything. I made some good putts for par as well. I actually made a really long one on my first hole which could have started out the day with a bogey and I didn't. I made a really solid putt.

[I] 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 okay."

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The day fell into a bit of an odd situation because for those of us on site, we were able to watch Nelly catch fire (with a back nine score of 31!!!), sadly for those at home she went off right before the first broadcast window concluded at 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. local time). By the time the evening window came around, Korda was wrapping up play.

But as I was following Korda for a bit, the LPGA team was out capturing her best shots and posted updates during the coverage gap!

It's obviously not an ideal situation for one of the Tour's biggest stars, who happens to be the hottest player on the course not getting shown, but I loved this effort from the LPGA for doing what they had to do. Getting your athletes shown, by any means necessary, is exactly what is needed.

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This marked Korda’s second-lowest opening round in a major, trailing only her 64 at the 2022 Amundi Evian Championship. It was also her first bogey-free round in a major since the 2024 AIG Women’s Open.

If you recall, this time last year, Korda shot a rather unusual opening round of 77 at Chevron and had to grind her way to making the cut on Friday. The 27-year-old didn't get the prep time she would have liked ahead of a major and ultimately paid the price for it—but this year—she took ample time off and came into the week fresh...a decision that has paid off so far.

"I love to practice. I love the setup that I have at home," Korda said after her round today. "I think just there is a comfort and happiness inside me that makes me happy on the golf course, too."

It's also easy to be happy on the course when you go 4-under on the par 5s. Her length is definitely an advantage at Memorial Park this week, with the official set up totaling out to be just over 6,800 yards.

After heavy rain early in the week, hopefully things will dry out in H-Town, so this venue can show us exactly why it's major-worthy.

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