Nelly Korda is taking nothing for granted on the course this year. The No. 1 ranked women’s golfer in the world, the defending champion of the Chevron Championship taking place in The Woodlands this week, knows to be on guard for something different at The Club at Carlton Woods.
“Every year that I’ve played the golf course, no matter how many times I’ve played, I feel like it just was so different with just maybe the winter that they’ve had, and the way the golf course is playing,” Korda, who won the LPGA’s first Major of the year by two strokes during her dominant 2024 season, says. “I don’t think I’ve ever played a golf course where it’s where it’s quite the same the year prior to the year we’re at.
“So going around seeing how the golf how the greens are rolling, seeing if they’ve changed a couple holes. Sometimes they like to throw in, they like to make the golf course longer. Or they like to make them a little bit more interesting.”
Korda will tee off at 8:32 am in the first round of the Chevron on Thursday.
Korda definitely has put last year’s success behind her. That incredible seven win campaign — with three other Top 10 finishes — is yesterday’s news to this focused 26-year-old.
“This is a brand new year,” Korda says, “What I achieved last year, no one can take that away from away from me. That’s always going to be such a great memory. But it’s a fresh week and a fresh mindset.
“My mindset really is one shot at a time. And that’s kind of what I’ve always had. I’m definitely not going to reminisce about the past.”
Korda, known for having arguably the prettiest swing in golf at any level, men or women, can feel her game going in the right direction.
“I think I saw some improvements in my game last week with my irons,” she notes. “Definitely felt a little bit more comfortable with that. Then just need my putter to click a little bit more to make those putts. I think that’s where it’s been lacking, is the putts that I was making last year I’m just not making as many this year.
“But I that’s just golf. I’ve gone through waves like this before, and if I just continue working at it, hopefully it does click.”
Nelly Korda’s Family Road Show
Korda will share this week in The Woodlands with her parents — retired tennis pros Petr Korda and Regina Rajchrtová.
“Having them stay with me is always really nice,” Korda says. She and her dad get competitive over Sequence and Legos, which helps keep her mind off golf away from the course.
Last year’s Chevron Championship certainly was good for Korda. In addition to her win, signing autographs for young fans is one of her favorite parts of this relocated Major as it settles further into its Texas home.
“It was so much fun to play in front of a lot of fans last year,” Korda says. “This tournament always gets such an amazing crowd with the little ones too. So my favorite thing about this event is how long our lines are with the Autograph Alley.
“No matter how bad of a day you had, like the day I finished with a double (bogey) on the last day and everyone was like ‘You played great.’ I’m here having a tear running down my face. Dumped it into the water on 18. It’s just a different perspective.”
There are two things Korda especially enjoys on the LPGA tour.
“One is seeing all the little kids come out and say that we inspire them to pick up the game of golf,” Korda says. “And knowing that the game of golf is heading in the great direction with seeing all the little kids picking up the game. Two is my team. I love them so much.
“And then for us being together, no matter the ups, the downs, like we just all stick together, we grind through it.”
One of those together moments came after Nelly Korda won the Chevron Championship last year.
In 1998, at what was then the Nabisco Dinah Shore at the Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, the winner Amy Alcott and her caddie famously jumped into the pond near the 18th green and a new tradition was born. Last year, Korda made the leap into The Woodlands’ version of pond with her entire team. That’s something you don’t forget.
“I was the last one in and the first one out,” Korda says. “Once my feet hit the ground, I was like ‘Oh my God, this is so slimy. I’m getting right out.’ ”
Now Nelly Korda is getting right back to trying to win another Major, which would be her third.
Tickets for the Chevron Championship are available here. Weekend passes and one day tickets are available. Chevron donates $5 for every ticket sold to the Fuel Your School program. Those under 17 are admitted free, with an accompanying adult.