LPGA Tour fans are used to seeing Nelly Korda make golf look simple, on Thursday at Riviera, it looked anything but for the No. 1 ranked player in the world.
Korda went off early on the back nine and immediately had to get scrambling after a poor wedge shot on the short par 4 10th. She managed par and followed that up with a birdie on 11, but that was as smooth as it looked all day.
Right after that -1 start, Korda bogeyed the next two holes thanks to a pair of loose tee shots and a total shank from the bunker on 13. That led to perhaps the most discussed part of the day for Korda, her shoes.
This week, she was gifted a custom pair of shoes from LeBron for the tournament. She began the round wearing them but asked her team to get her usual shoes after her tough start. By her sixth hole of the day, she had changed into her standard Nike shoes.
(Korda’s standard shoes that she changed into mid round)
Korda looked better after that, with a series of difficult pars saved by some solid short game play.
On the turn, Korda made her second, and final, birdie of the day on the par five first. She was giving herself more birdie opportunities on her second nine, but the putter couldn’t convert any of them. She also made a couple more sloppy bogeys.
Overall, it was a +2 round for Korda, which left her six strokes off the lead at the end of the morning wave. It felt a bit reminiscent of her first round at Erin Hills yesterday, where she couldn’t get any rhythm going, but she kept herself within striking distance if she has a strong second round.
Korda is looking for her fourth major championship and 20th overall win on the LPGA Tour this week. It would be her first win at the U.S. Women’s Open, where she finished runner up in 2025.
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