Nelly Korda leads after the first round of the 2026 Chevron Championship

Nelly Korda (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)

Nelly Korda of Bradenton, Florida is the first round leader at the 2026 Chevron Championship in Houston, Texas. Korda shot a first round score of seven-under-par at the Memorial Park Golf Course.

Korda is a major champion from the past. She won the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship in Atlanta, Georgia and the 2024 Chevron Championship. When Korda won the 2024 Chevron Championship, she had an opening round score of four-under-par, and was in second place, two strokes back of the leader at the time, Lauren Coughlin of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In the first round, Korda had seven birdies and zero bogeys. She birdied the first, second, third, seventh, eighth, 12th and 16th holes. Korda’s opening round score of 65 was even more impressive when you consider the fact she golfed in very windy conditions.

There were six other golfers in contention. There was a two-way tie for second place at -5. Those two strokes back were South Korea’s So-mi Lee and Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit. There was then a four-way tie for fourth place at -4. Those three strokes back were Liu Yan of China, Yuri Yoshida of Japan, Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of France and American Farah O’Keefe of Austin, Texas. At only 20 years of age, O’Keefe is only an amateur. Of the six golfers in contention, Tavatanakit is a major champion as she won the 2021 ANA Inspiration at Rancho Mirage, California. 

Korda is currently second in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. She is 1.48 points back of the world number one, Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul. Interestingly, Thitikul is not a major champion.