HOUSTON — Nelly Korda doesn’t make changes. Her team has been a constant for most of her career: coach, caddie, physio, support system, etc. That consistency keeps the World No. 2 free and grounded. But sometimes minor changes are needed to create positive momentum when things have stalled.
Sometimes those changes are external. Sometimes there are internal tweaks to be made.
After a frustrating 2025 season that saw her go winless, Korda entered this season vowing to be different — in her own mind. She wanted to approach golf at the highest level differently, hoping that it would unlock the best in her world-class game.
“I think this year I just wanted to have a different mindset change of if I get into trouble, I’ll figure it out,” Korda said on Friday after her second round at the Chevron Championship. “Not like you look at something and, excuse my French, and say I’m f—-d. There are times where I’ve had that and now I’m like, I’ll figure it out. So that’s my biggest takeaway from last year and the years before. I don’t want to have that mindset. I want to be like, okay, I’ll figure it out and not stress myself out too much.”
So far, that mindset shift has led to the best of Nelly Korda at the year’s first major.
Korda fired an opening-round 65 at Memorial Park on Thursday and then went out early on Friday and resumed tearing apart the Tom Doak design. She made birdies at 1, 3 and 9 around a lone bogey at the sixth. With her lead at four making the turn, Korda turned on the jets. She stuffed an iron in tight at No. 11 for a birdie and added circles at 12 and 14. When she rolled in birdie putts at 17 and 18, she was at 14 under and her lead was seven — it was six when the day ended. That’s the lowest 36-hole major score in Korda’s career, and the six-shot lead is tied for the largest 36-hole lead at an LPGA major championship since 1980. It’s also the largest 36-hole lead in Chevron Championship history.
“I’m comfortable with my game. I’m also very comfortable — I think where I’m the most comfortable is definitely with my mindset of knowing when I mess up, I’ll figure it out; trying to have that ease,” Korda said. “Sometimes I think you get stuck up in wanting to play well and wanting to be at the top always, that you have this sort of like tension of not wanting to make a mistake.
“I think there is a power in knowing it’s okay to make a mistake and just bounce back.”
This course suits Korda’s eye and plays to her strengths. After heavy rain soaked the course on Tuesday, Memorial Park is playing even longer than initially planned. That gives Korda an advantage with her length, especially on the five par-5s, which she has played at 7 under through two rounds.
But Korda has also attacked the year’s first major with a plan to not take on any unnecessary risk. In the past, Korda would look to go at flags that invited big numbers if the shot wasn’t perfect, believing she needed to create momentum. At Memorial Park, she has been comfortable playing away from danger when needed, knowing that there will be times for her to strike and that, as long as she misses in the right spots, she’ll be in control.
Such a moment arrived on Friday when Korda reached the par-3 15th hole. Fresh off three birdies in four holes, Korda was riding a wave and could’ve looked to add an exclamation point. But with the pin tucked left and a steep runoff into a water hazard lurking, Korda elected to play her shot well right of the pin and settle for a long lag putt.
“I didn’t look at the left side that was falling off,” Korda said of No. 15. “Sometimes I would. Sometimes, if I wanted to be aggressive, I would try to hit it ten feet right of that, but I think it’s also maturing.”
Part of maturing is also recognizing when help is needed.
At the end of last year, as a frustrating campaign came to a close, Korda wanted help with her putting, the one aspect of her game that has seemed to be a roadblock to greater success.
She called famed putting coach Phil Kenyon for some advice. Kenyon met with her at the Kroger Queen City Championship in September and wanted Korda to make a big change.
“I was left-hand low, and the week of Cincinnati Phil looked at my putting and told me I need to go back to conventional,” Korda recalled. “The week of the event. I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve been left-hand low for a really long time. We’ll see how it goes.’ It worked out.”
But Kenyon is a very in-demand putting guru — he works with Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick, among others — so he suggested Korda reach out to David Angelotti, with Kenyon overseeing things on occasion. Korda agreed, and the new partnership was formed — a member added to the Korda circle.
“What we really work on is the simple stuff: Reading the greens; starting it over my start target,” Korda said. “He’s finally someone that’s giving my putting practice a sense of structure. Everything I do is very structured with him. I feel like there is no gray area. It’s black and white. For me, there is a calm in whatever we do together that I know it’s this and that.”
Angelotti came out to Houston this week to prep with Korda. They waited out the rain on Tuesday to get a feel for the wet greens. Through 36 holes, Korda’s putter has been rock solid. Outside of two short misses on Friday, Korda has made almost everything she has looked at. All of that has her six shots up on Patti Tavatanakit and seven shots up on Ryann O’Toole and amateur Farah O’Keefe at the halfway point, with a third major championship firmly in her sights.
“You have a target on your back in a sense, but also I just like enjoy it,” Korda said with a smile about being the hunted this weekend.
Nelly Korda knows a lot can happen over 36 holes. For her, the process doesn’t change. Her plan has her on the doorstep. Now, she just has to run through the finish line this weekend in Houston.
