Nelly Korda didn’t get the massive silver Chevron Championship trophy she was hoping for. Instead, the world No. 1 left The Woodlands with a LEGO flower bouquet — a fitting gift for someone who’s been building LEGO sets to unwind at tournaments this year.
Korda’s title defense ended with a T-14 finish after closing with a final-round 70 on Sunday. It was her opening 77 on Thursday that ultimately derailed her chances. She battled back impressively to make the cut and climbed within four shots of the lead Saturday, but back-to-back double bogeys quickly extinguished any hopes of a repeat victory.
Her preparation for the year’s first major wasn’t ideal. Korda arrived late Sunday from L.A. and took Monday off completely. She managed just nine holes during Tuesday’s pro-am and got in limited practice Wednesday before weather moved in.
“At the end of the day, I mean, you’ve got to roll with the punches and you have to continue learning,” Korda said. “I just played the pro-am, the front nine, so I didn’t get to chip, putt, see how the greens were releasing with this new pro-am protocol where we can’t chip or putt anymore, so not having that kind of sucked. But at the end of day, I did have the chance to play in the afternoon on Wednesday and I didn’t take it, so that’s on me.”
She’s still searching for her first win of 2024. Korda will skip next week’s inaugural Black Desert Championship in Utah before returning to defend her title at the Mizuho Americas Open the following week.
Between now and then, she’s planning to shift her practice approach — more playing, less range time.
“My dad will probably go to every one of my practice sessions next week, which I really enjoy,” she said. “He did it with me before I left for L.A. It’s nice because sometimes he just tells me to take a break when I don’t want to.”
