FRISCO, Texas — When Nelly Korda walked off the second green after starting her third round of the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship with back-to-back bogeys, she had just one thought.
“It’s going to be a long day,” Korda said.
The world No. 1 had no idea how long her day was about to be.
That long day was just beginning at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco. With winds gusting up to 30 mph and the Texas heat baking out the firm greens, play slowed to a crawl at the year’s third major. Korda and her playing partner, Brooke Henderson, played their first nine holes in three hours and 10 minutes.
They waited for 20-plus minutes on the seventh tee box as three groups sat on the same hole. A similar wait greeted them on the eighth and ninth tee boxes.
In the end, Korda and Henderson took around six hours to play their third round as a combination of conditions and a difficult setup led to gridlock on Frisco.
“There is nowhere to go, so just patience,” Korda, who shot an even par 72 on Saturday, said after the round about the pace of play. “I mean, I feel like I’ve — we’ve had lots of situations in the past like year where like we’ve had to wait a long time, so unfortunately kind of used to it, which you don’t want to be used to it, especially in a two ball Saturday of a major.
“You don’t want to be spending 20 minutes and getting up to the next tee and then you’re 15 minutes and getting up to the next tee and it’s another 15 minutes. There is just like no momentum in it. So I don’t know. I mean, you just kind of have to go with it. Everyone is going through it, everyone is dealing with it, everyone is playing the same golf course. I think the wind was gusty throughout the majority of the day, so you just kind of have to be really creative and really patient.”
Asked if there was something the PGA of America could do setup-wise to unclog play in the final round, Korda had a few thoughts as to why things are slow.
“I just think with the weather, it’s just too firm,” Korda said. “The hole locations are kind of in almost impossible positions where not many people are hitting the greens, so obviously it’s going to take a lot more time. With it blowing 30 miles an hour, it’s just hard.”
Charley Hull, another notoriously fast player, was at a loss when confronted with the six-hour rounds for twosomes on Saturday.
“It was pretty crazy,” Hull told NBC in her television post-round interview. “We was playing two balls this morning and took us three hours and ten minutes to play nine holes, which is pretty crazy. We play a four-ball at home in like three hours, you know what I mean, with bogeys and stuff. It’s pretty crazy. At the end of the day, it’s a pretty tough golf course, it’s really windy, and the setup is kind of tricky. Can’t really expect it to be anything else.”
The glacial pace in the Texas heat made a demanding day on the course even more frustrating. But this week, it’s all part of the major championship task.
One that only has one six-hour round to go.
“I think we played a two-ball in like six hours,” Korda said. “That’s just a little ridiculous, but what can you do? Just told myself to be patient.”
