MIAMI – Nelly Korda did not fret after a poor start in the Chevron Championship second round on April 19, and finished just one shot behind Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul and South Korea’s Im Jin-hee in the first women’s Major of the season.
The American is looking to become the first woman to win five consecutive tournaments and she left the course on top of the leaderboard after carding a three-under 69 at Carlton Woods in Texas.
But late in the day, Atthaya and Im both finished strongly on 67 to grab the top spot on eight-under 136 heading into the weekend.
Korda, 25, made a nightmare start with a double-bogey on the opening par-four hole where it took the world No. 1 two shots to get out of a fairway bunker after a poor tee shot.
But she bounced back immediately, draining a birdie putt on the second and then claiming another on the par-five fourth. She ended her round with a 69 and with her resilience ensuring she is in contention for what would be a remarkable fifth straight win on the LPGA Tour.
“Kind of all over the place on the front nine, but pretty clean scorecard on the back with two birdies,” Korda said, noting that the early double had not knocked her off her game.
“I actually didn’t feel bad at all. Sometimes when you start to make mistakes, you don’t really feel confident.
“But I just told myself that it’s the first hole of the tournament today. Even though I may have made a double, there is still so much golf to be played.
“That’s usually what I think about, just the opportunities that I have ahead.”
The 21-year-old Atthaya left the course in upbeat mood after making birdie on the par-five 18th.
The Thai star, who has two wins on the LPGA and four on the Ladies European Tour, is playing in her first tournament of 2024 after suffering a left thumb injury.
With her expectations low, she said she was playing without any real pressure.
“(I’m feeling) kind of free,” Atthaya said.
“Just a little bit of excitement of starting like my first week of the season here in a Major. But other than that, not really any pressure at all.”
There were emotional scenes at the last hole where Ryu So-yeon of South Korea said her final farewell to the tour amid hugs from her fellow players.
The 33-year-old, who missed the cut, is retiring after an illustrious career which saw her win two Majors and six LPGA titles in total, including the Chevron in 2017.
“I’m very numb now. I just cannot believe this is real. Nobody pushed me to retire, that was my decision. Still I just cannot believe this is real, I need to be proud of myself,” she said.
In men’s golf, Tom Hoge shot his low round of the season, a seven-under 64, to share a four-way tie for the lead after two rounds of the RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
He was tied at 11-under 131 with Sepp Straka (65), first-round leader J.T. Poston (68) and two-time Major winner Collin Morikawa (66). AFP, REUTERS
