“I knew that once I had kids I wanted to be home,” Olson told Golfweek. “That was a huge desire of my heart.”
Carly Gray Olson just started to crawl last week. Her first teeth came in, too. These are the sweet moments that take most of Amy Olson’s focus these days, which is why the LPGA veteran announced on social media Wednesday that she wouldn’t be coming back from maternity leave.
“I knew that once I had kids I wanted to be home,” Olson told Golfweek. “That was a huge desire of my heart.
“Even when (husband) Grant and I were dating, years ago, we talked about how I wanted to play for 10 years, that was my goal, and then I wanted to shift homeward and focus on family.”
Olson, 31, joined the LPGA in 2014 after winning an NCAA record-tying 20 titles at North Dakota State University, eclipsing the mark of 17 set by Juli Inkster.
Looking back, Olson said winning the 2009 U.S. Girls’ Junior gave her a huge confidence boost as did qualifying for the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open while in college and holding the first-round lead at The Broadmoor. The eventual winner that week, So Yeon Ryu, retired after last week’s Chevron Championship.
(1/4) What. A. Ride. My journey in professional golf is officially ending. Call it quitting, retirement, a VERY extended maternity leave 🤷🏼♀️ …I am turning the page to the next chapter in my life. I couldn’t be more thankful for the places God took me through this game of golf. pic.twitter.com/PQ4MoDu8O9
One of Olson’s favorite memories on the LPGA was clawing back from 6 over through 13 holes at the 2021 Kia Classic to finish tied for second.
Of course, she realizes that others will remember more painful runner-up finishes, like the 2018 Evian Championship, when she made double on the 72nd hole to lose to Angela Stanford.
Or when she was in contention at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open in Houston and her father-in-law, Lee Olson, died from a heart attack the night before the final round. Olson finished second that year, too.
“Unfortunately, a couple of the pivotal ones of my career were actually really sad moments,” said Olson. “But I think one of the things I’ve always been most proud of is keeping golf in perspective and realizing that life is bigger than golf. In a lot of ways, some of those bigger moments that people remember me for, I was able to live that out in front of them.”
Olson said while there aren’t regrets in terms of what she could’ve done differently, there are dreams that will go unrealized as this chapter of life ends. She never played on a U.S. Solheim Cup team or won an LPGA event.
“I’ve had to come to terms with that,” said Olson, “I’m just realizing OK, that’s not part of my story, and realizing I have different dreams and bigger dreams, rather than clinging to the same ones that motivated me for a number of years.”
The bigger dreams, she said, are ordinary and small. Being a wife and a mom, being present for the milestones, passing on her perspective and deep faith to Carly.
Angela Stanford’s road to 100 consecutive majors hasn’t yet reached a dead end, but time is running out. On Tuesday, the 46-year-old competed in a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier at Soboba Springs Golf Course in San Jacinto, California, and failed to advance after rounds of 74-74 left her 4 over. Taiwan’s Hsin Yu Lu (4 under) and Mariel Galdiano (2 under) earned spots in the championship, which will be held May 30-June 2 at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club.
Last week, Stanford competed in her 98th consecutive major at the Chevron Championship, where she played on a sponsor exemption. The 2018 Evian champion needed two more starts to join Jack Nicklaus as the only golfers to reach 100 consecutive majors. Nicklaus owns the record with 146 consecutive major starts (1962 Masters Tournament through 1998 U.S. Open). Adam Scott made his 90th consecutive major start earlier this month at the Masters.
Stanford hoped to receive a special exemption for the U.S. Women’s Open but was informed before the qualifier the USGA had denied her request.
“While a handful of people did not believe the road to 100 was a worthy pursuit, I feel like most did,” Stanford wrote. “Thank you to the LPGA media, golf media, the fans, Chevron, and I believe KPMG and PGA of America would’ve embraced 100.
“As I was standing on my 36th hole today, I was overcome with pride. I haven’t been that proud of myself in a long time. My body held up, thank you Dan. My game held up, thank you Todd. My caddie help up, thank you John.
“Sometimes we don’t get the results we want in this game, but I went after it. I put myself out there and went for a goal that was really hard.”
Angela Stanford poses with the trophy after winning the Volunteers of America Classic at the Old American Golf Club on December 6, 2020 in The Colony, Texas. (Photo: Chuck Burton/Getty Images)
Stanford, who is in the field this week at the JM Eagle LA Championship, has two other ways to gain entry to the Women’s Open: win an LPGA event or climb into the top 75 in the Rolex Rankings before May 27. Stanford, a seven-time winner on tour, currently ranks 398th and joked that at least Nelly Korda, winner of the last four LPGA starts, isn’t in the field this wek at Wilshire Country Club.
The USGA provided the following statement on the decision not to award a special exemption:
Unlike most other events, our field is quite literally, “open.” We allocate roughly 50 percent of our field to open qualifying, which provides an opportunity for any player (not exempt) to earn their way into the championship. We rarely offer special exemptions, as they remove “open” spots from the field, that thousands are competing to earn.
We don’t have “sponsor invites” nor do we think about our exemptions as media stories and/or “local favorites.” Rather, when we do extend a special exemption, we do it purely based on a player’s extraordinary performances over the years, especially in USGA championships, additional major championships, time spent as World No. 1, Tour wins, as well as recent performances/ranking.
We wish Angela the best of luck over the coming weeks as she tries to earn a place in the field and hope to see her in Lancaster and in USGA championships for many years to come.
Stanford’s streak started at the 2002 McDonald’s LPGA Championship and, given how few players on the LPGA compete past the age of 40, let alone stay healthy enough to sustain such a stretch, many believe another opportunity like this might not come around again in the women’s game.
“A friend of mine send me a text saying my mom would have been proud,” Stanford wrote. “She would have. She taught me to go for the tough things in life. She loved the majors. They have always been the toughest.
“Thank you to my family and friends who have sacrificed so much for me. I’ve been told I should smile more on course. I’m going to try that the rest of the year. Play some of my favorites and call it a career on this tour. #Roadto100 #Exit98.”
Even the best players in the world are prone to an errant shot every once in awhile.
Last month at the Valspar Championship, rookie Chandler Phillips was in contention to win his first PGA Tour event when his 4-iron at the par-3 seventh hole during the final round headed well right of the green and into a gathering of spectators.
A husband and wife were sitting next to each other and the ball beaned the wife, bouncing off her head and then smashing into the noggin of her husband, a rare two-for-one special.
When Phillips arrived on the scene he noticed he’d gotten an incredible break, his ball kicking out of trouble from a likely bogey to an easy up-and-down for par. That’s when he first saw the ice pack being applied to the husband’s head. A few yards away to the right, Phillips’s caddie, Braden Smith, spied the injured fan’s wife spread out on the ground on her back with a towel drenched in blood compressed to her head.
“Oh, my gosh, that’s not good,” he recalled thinking, and began digging into the bag to get a golf glove for his boss to sign, the go-to way for a player to say, “I’m sorry I hit you.” (Phil Mickelson was known to sign $100 bills.) “I didn’t know what else to do,” Smith said.
Phillips took the bloody scene to heart.
“After that, I wasn’t right,” he said.
Following the round, where he finished a career-best third at a Tour event, he said to the woman who suffered the direct hit, “If she’s seeing this, I’m truly sorry. Obviously I’m not meaning to do that.”
But it happens all the time at professional events. These players are good but they also aren’t immune to the stray shot. At the 2010 Memorial, Tiger Woods hit three spectators in a single day. Just this week at the RBC Heritage, Sepp Straka bloodied a spectator on the first hole at Harbour Town Golf Links and struggled to put it out of mind even if it was out sight.
“That was tough,” he said after his round. “Hopefully I’ll be able to reach out to him this afternoon and see how he’s doing.”
Smoltz: Just a bit outside
John Smoltz could throw a baseball with pinpoint precision from 60 feet, 6 inches. On the few occasions that he hit a batter, he admitted it usually wasn’t by accident.
“I’ve been given instructions to do that,” Smoltz said.
But with a golf ball, it’s a different story.
“I feel terrible if that happens,” he said ahead of playing last week’s Invited Celebrity Classic in Dallas on the PGA Tour Champions. “Luckily, I think it’s only happened one time in my life. And it happened in my very first kind of celebrity golf with Ken Green, Mark Calcavecchia and Lee Trevino. I was actually having the round of my life and I hit somebody who was walking towards the green. I was trying to reach a par five and two, and it hit him and the ball didn’t go on the green so I was a little disappointed about that. But then I saw that it hit somebody and he was laying on the ground and he ended up being OK, but yeah, that’s not a feeling I would even want to have happen.”
Andrade and a cast
Billy Andrade, a competitor in the pro portion of the Invited Celebrity Classic, has struck a couple of fans during his more than three-decade career, including a young girl in the arm at a tournament in Washington D.C.
“She came back the next day with a cast on it and asked me to sign it,” Andrade recalled. “So, of course I signed it, and I gave her like everything I had in my bag. And yeah, it happens and when it does it never feels good.”
Annika and her assistant take one for the team
World Golf Hall of Fame member Annika Sorenstam is considered one of, if not the, best ball strikers of all time. But you’d guess she would have a foul ball or two that’s pelted a fan at some point along the way, right? But Sorenstam claims that she’s never drilled a spectator in all these years.
“Knock on wood, I hope it stays that way,” said Sorenstam, who played in the celebrity division of the Invited Celebrity Classic, too. “But I’ve played in events where somebody has, and it’s not a fun thing. It makes me sick to my stomach.”
In fact, Sorenstam was playing in the LPGA’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions event when there was a backup on the par-5 15th hole. “I really didn’t know what was happening and then somebody said that somebody got hit around the green area. And I’m like, ‘Oh, bummer. I hope they’re OK.’”
After they teed off, Sorenstam found out who got hit: her assistant, Crystal Davis, of all people was the victim. She was out watching her boss with Sorenstam’s daughter, Ava, and she was hit in the leg by a celebrity golfer trying to protect Ava. She succeeded in part of her objective but when her leg swelled quickly, Davis fainted.
“The ball was coming her way, so she jumped in front of (Ava), which is, you know, a case for a raise,” Sorenstam said.
This list is updated through the 2024 Chevron Championship.
The LPGA has three members of the $20 million club, five who have won at least $17 million in on-course earnings, 24 with $10 million or more and 81 who have earned at least $5 million.
Annika Sorenstam leads the way. Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Cristie Kerr are the three golfers who have surpassed $20 million.
Nellly Korda, with her win the 2024 Chevron Championship, her second major, is the 23rd player in LPGA history to surpass $11 million.
Let’s take a closer look here at the top 20 of all-time.
This list is updated through the 2024 Chevron Championship.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – A bald eagle circled the sky to the right of the fourth tee box on Sunday as Nelly Korda continued her march toward history. A powerful American player hasn’t dominated the LPGA since Beth Daniel in the early ’90s. The last time an American won five consecutive starts: Nancy Lopez in 1978.
It’s no wonder LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan strolled inside the ropes on Sunday afternoon at the Club at Carlton Woods, marveling at one of the best crowds the tour has seen in years.
“This is a gigantic moment for us,” said the commish.
Korda’s gutsy and stylish victory at the Chevron Championship signals a new era in the women’s game, one golf hoped would come with Michelle Wie West or Paula Creamer or Lexi Thompson. None of them rose to No. 1, let alone claimed two majors or went on a hot streak the likes of which only five players in the history of golf have ever done.
Korda, 25, now owns 13 career titles, tying current Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis, who did win two majors and rise to No. 1, though she shared the stage with a major-winning machine in Inbee Park.
“It’s everything that I’ve always wanted as a little girl, to lift that major trophy,” said Korda, noting that she felt sick to her stomach after the longest back nine of her life.
Nelly Korda celebrates with the trophy after winning the 2024 Chevron Championship. (Photo: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports)
Korda returned to the course Sunday morning before the sun rose, with the wind up, temperatures 30 degrees lower and a marathon day ahead. She started with a 3-foot putt on the 12th hole and grinded out a series of pars on the back nine to finish Round 3 one back of South Korea’s Hae Ran Ryu and retreated to put her feet up.
Rest has played a vital role in Korda’s rise. It started with a seven-week break that followed her first victory in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida. After three victories in as many weeks, Korda enjoyed a week off during Masters week and didn’t leave the house for two days as she snuggled with older sister Jessica’s infant son Greyson for contact naps and tried to block out the world.
On Sunday, she had a two-hour break between rounds before returning to the range to warm up with her tight-knit entourage of physio, caddie, agent and instructor. She took time to sign autographs and take selfies before heading to the first tee.
When it comes to winning streaks in golf, Byron Nelson leads the way with a mind-blowing 11 in 1945. Tiger Woods won seven straight starts between the 2006-07 seasons and both Ben Hogan (1948) and Woods (1999-2000) each won six consecutive. Woods also had a streak end at five in 2008.
Early on in Sunday’s final round, it felt like Brooke Henderson was the most likely spoiler to Korda’s run. A thinned chip shot on the fourth hole just off the right side of the green, however, ran into a greenside bunker and the winningest Canadian golfer in history needed two swings to get out. The resulting double bogey came as Korda made a second consecutive birdie.
To her credit, Henderson birdied the next two holes to get back in it. But a chip-in birdie from Korda on No. 10 stretched her lead to four, and it suddenly felt all but inevitable.
The biggest question at that point was whether or not Korda would actually take a chilly dip into the murky pond that surrounds the 18th.
Lauren Coughlin, a journeywoman whose husband recently quit his job as a fundraiser at the University of Virginia to travel the world with her, was within two of Korda with three to play but rattled off bogeys on the 16th and 17th to fall back to a share of third.
Sweden’s Maja Stark had a run of her own down the last, but back-to-back birdies on the closing two holes weren’t enough to thwart Korda, who hit three spectacular shots down the stretch, including a near ace off the flagstick on the 17th, to seal her second major title with a fourth consecutive round in the 60s and a 13-under total.
Tournament officials threw teddy bears to the little girls who’d lined up by the 18th green to watch their hero, chanting her name.
During the trophy presentation, Korda’s team began taking off their shoes to prepare for the celebratory jump. Korda got at the back of the line as they lined up on the dock, led by physio Kim Baughman, agent Chris Mullhaupt, instructor Jamie Mulligan and caddie Jason McDede. Korda went in last, pulling her knees in tight for the cannonball of her life.
Nelly Korda jumps in the lake after winning the 2024 Chevron Championship. (Photo: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports)
“Everyone was talking about creating history,” said Korda’s father Petr, who stayed dry under the scoreboard, “and to do that under this pressure.”
Well, as he said, it was nothing short of phenomenal.
After the cold plunge, the woman who is on a heater of historic proportions clutched a portable heater as she answered questions from the press. She talked about the doubt that crept in after a monster 2021 season that saw her win a major and an Olympic gold medal.
“I heard some outside voices from other people saying that they don’t know if I’ll ever be able to win another major again,” said Korda.
A number of injuries, including a terrifying blood clot that required surgery, held her back in recent years, but she doubled down on the hard work and leaned into a team that feeds off the positivity of Mulligan.
McDede has been on Korda’s bag since she started winning in 2018 and calls Mulligan a father figure to him, noting that aura that surrounds the California instructor.
“We spend a lot of time on the phone together,” said McDede. “He’s always there for you. He’s always got a story to tell you, but then when he looks at you to be locked in, then you’re locked in.”
Korda called McDede her punching bag, her best friend and her teammate. She credited him with keeping her in the moment during a brutally long six-hour round.
The first LPGA player Mulligan ever coached was childhood friend Amy Alcott, the first player who ever jumped in the pond at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, California, starting a tradition that became part of the lore of winning what once was known as the Dinah Shore and last year moved her to Texas. The LPGA Hall of Famer sent a text to Mulligan this morning, and they now share piece of LPGA history.
Mulligan doesn’t believe Korda has changed much during the streak, but more slipped deeper into the system they’ve built.
Korda confirmed that she’ll play next week at the JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club, where she’ll try to become the first LPGA player to win six consecutive starts.
The week ended with a similar question Korda fielded at the start: How can this run elevate the tour?
“It’s a stage,” said Korda. “We need a stage.”
Even though final-round action went well past NBC’s scheduled three-hour window, the network continued Chevron coverage until the finish, buoyed by the fact that Scottie Scheffler’s run at the RBC Heritage was on hold due to weather.
“I think all of the stars were aligned for today,” said Marcoux Samaan.
Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) and Nancy Lopez (1978) are the only two LPGA players to win five consecutive starts.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – There’s a portable heater on the dais now at the 2024 Chevron Championship, hidden behind a vase of flowers, and Nelly Korda was grateful for the warmth.
After a storm system rolled through The Woodlands on Saturday, suspending Round 3 and dropping 1.52 inches of rain, temperatures plummeted into the low 50s, and the wind kicked up for the resumption of play. It was an early wakeup call for the 7 a.m. local start time on Sunday, and everyone on the leaderboard grinded down a demanding final stretch at the Club at Carlton Woods.
Korda, who looks to become only the third player in LPGA history to win five consecutive starts, trails by one going into the final round, with her 12:36 p.m. ET tee time coming roughly two hours after she completed her third. Hae Ran Ryu, last year’s Louise Suggs Rolex LPGA Rookie of the Year, holds the lead at 11 under after making birdie on three of her last six holes on Ssaturday to shoot 67. Ryu began Sunday morning in a share of fifth.
Korda, meanwhile, held on with a long string of pars to card a 69 and sit tied at 10 under with Brooke Henderson. While Korda had seven holes left to play this morning, Henderson needed only to finish the par-5 18th. Henderson parred the last to shoot a course-record 64 and put herself in the mix for a third career major title.
“So different, oh, my gosh,” said Korda. “The first three days we were sweating so much, and today I was freezing out there. Pars went a long way. Made some good up-and-downs. Overall played pretty well. The golf course is just playing so different right now. It’s quite tough in this weather.
“The wind is out of a complete different direction, too, so the holes that I would probably hit 3-wood on or maybe take advantage of, I had 6-irons in instead of short irons. Completely different.”
A trio of players are tied for fourth at 8 under, including Maja Stark, Jin Hee Im and Atthaya Thitikul, who began the morning with the solo lead at 11 under. Thitikul bogeyed the three toughest holes in the third round – Nos. 14-16 – to card an even-par 72. Last year’s Vare Trophy winner injured her thumb after the LPGA season and was forced to take several months off from competition. The Chevron marks her first start to the season.
Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) and Nancy Lopez (1978) are the only two players in LPGA history to win five consecutive starts. Korda’s in prime position to make it an elite trio.
We've added more coverage for today, here is the full schedule for streaming @Chevron_Golf!
8 A.M. ET – @ESPNPlus featured group coverage of final two pairings in the conclusion of round three
12:05- 2 P.M. ET – @ESPNPlus featured group coverage of final two pairings
“I’m going to think about it positively rather than negatively,” Korda said of the long Sunday ahead.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – As if winning five consecutive starts – with the fifth at a major championship – weren’t challenging enough, Mother Nature had to get involved. For Nelly Korda to extend her streak, she’ll have to play 25 holes on Sunday and fend off several heavyweight contenders.
Play at the Chevron Championship was suspended at 2:57 p.m. CDT at the Club at Carlton Woods for dangerous conditions. With too many storm systems in the area, officials ultimately suspended play for the day after a half-inch of rain had fallen. Forecasters expect another inch to inch-and-a-half more of rainfall tonight. Round 3 will resume at 7 a.m. CDT, and once the third round is complete, players will be repaired by score for the final round.
The final round will begin at approximately 9:20 a.m. CDT off Nos. 1 and 10 with the final group off at 11:31 a.m. CDT.
When asked why players weren’t sent off both tees on Saturday, an LPGA official said Saturday’s storm system came in much earlier than forecasted.
Atthaya Thitikul (THA) lines up her putt on the second green during the third round of The Chevron Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Atthaya Thitikul holds a one-stroke lead at 11 under over a white-hot Brooke Henderson and Nelly Korda. Rookie Jin Hee Im, playing in her first LPGA major, sits two shots back at 9 under.
Henderson had already played 17 holes Saturday when play was suspended. Her 8-under performance included a stretch of 10 consecutive one-putts. She has one par 5 left to play.
The course record is 65 at Carlton Woods and the championship record, set at Mission Hills’ Dinah Shore Tournament Course, is 62, set by Lorena Ochoa (2006) and matched by Lydia Ko (2021).
“I think the last like month and a half, two months I’ve been working with my putter trying to get comfortable,” said Henderson, “just trying to be a little bit more confident. I’ve seen progress every week, which I think is really good, and earlier this week I was feeling really comfortable, just wasn’t really making anything, but today started to make some stuff, so hopefully this is a good sign for what the future will hold.”
Thitikul, who is making her 2024 LPGA debut after suffering a thumb injury, is through 12 holes while Korda and Im are through 11. The Thai player, a former world No. 1 who won the Vare Trophy last year for low scoring average, is one of the best players on tour without a major title. She’s definitely the most rested player this week.
“I think it’s not that big (of a) deal,” said Thitikful of a long Sunday. “I think last year in Malaysia I played more than this with the playoff, 27 holes, which is fine. Still fine. Still young now. Still good.”
Lydia Ko (NZL ) has an umbrella held by caddie Paul Cormack as they walk the ninth green during the third round of The Chevron Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Korda will sleep on the most pressure as she looks to become only the third player in tour history to win five consecutive starts, joining Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05). Sorenstam’s fifth win was at this same major championship. She triumphed by eight.
Korda killed time during the rain delay watching PGA Tour coverage. Earlier in the week, she talked about how exhausted she felt coming home after winning three consecutive titles in as many weeks. All three victories were in difficult weather conditions. She didn’t leave the house for two days.
“If you think about it positively,” she said of the marathon that awaits, “then I have a lot of opportunities left in the day that I can go out and maybe capitalize on a couple of them, then that’s good. But I’m going to think about it positively rather than negatively.”
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — If Nelly Korda goes on to win her fifth consecutive title this week at the Chevron Championship – joining Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam as the only players to achieve the feat – she might look back on an apple, of all things, as a key to her success.
The World No. 1 admitted to nerves at the start of Thursday’s round, which saw defending champion Lilia Vu bow out with injury before she even made it to the first tee. Vu, who was in Korda’s group for the first two rounds, was replaced in the field by Jennifer Song.
Running on what she estimates to be a 70 percent battery, Korda hit a couple loose drives early on that added up to a bogey on the first hole and a shaky start. But an apple on No. 14 gave her the boost needed to notch her first birdie and settle into the day.
Five birdies later, including four on the last six holes, added up to a 4-under 68, the low round of a difficult afternoon wave.
“Maybe I should have apples more often,” said Korda, who said she played “free golf” once she made the turn.
Nelly Korda (USA) walks up to the 17th tee during the first round of The Chevron Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis, a two-time major champion who grew up in The Woodlands and, like Coughlin, is staying at her parents’ house this week, finished up two groups ahead of Korda and said the wind really started to pick up as she was warming up on the range.
The morning wave posted 21 rounds under par compared to nine in the afternoon. The afternoon scoring average of 74.18 was 1.24 strokes higher than the first wave.
“I think anything under par this afternoon is a really good score,” said Lewis of the firmer conditions. “But it’s a major championship, that’s what it should be. Nothing Nelly does surprises me.”
Rookie Gabriela Ruffels carded the second-best round of the afternoon wave, a 69, on her 24th birthday. Ruffels’ parents, like Korda’s, are former tennis pros. Ruffels tied for third at the Fir Hills Se Ri Pak Championship last month to go along with two additional top-15 finishes.
While this marks Ruffels’ debut at the Club at Carlton Woods, she played in three Chevron Championships at Mission Hills and finished in the top 25 in each appearance.
Former No. 1 Lydia Ko, who needs only one more victory to enter the LPGA Hall of Fame, sits tied with Ruffels and three others at 3 under in a share of fifth. The Kiwi played in the morning wave.
Golf’s leading stats man, Justin Ray, noted that 37 of the last 40 LPGA major winners have been at or within four strokes of the lead after the first round.
Korda said at the start of the week, she was dead when she got back home from Las Vegas, where she won for a third straight week on tour at the T-Mobile Match Play in brutally tough conditions. Korda didn’t leave her house for two days, which was especially sweet given that older sister Jessica came to visit with her infant son Greyson. Aunt Nelly and Greyson enjoyed naps together.
A Whoop ambassador, Korda keeps track of her sleep and tries to get to bed by 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m. no matter what or when she’s competing. Recovery, she said, is vital.
After winning her second start of the season in a playoff over Lydia Ko in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida, at the Drive On Championship, Korda took seven weeks off. A refreshed Korda returned to the tour in California and won her second title of the season in another playoff. After capturing her third title in three weeks, she had barely unpacked her bags in Florida before it felt like it was time to hit the road for the season’s first major.
“I think those three weeks, I didn’t think that it was going to drain me as much as it did maybe mentally,” she said.
With three testing rounds left on her march toward history, caddie Jason McDede, known for saying the right thing at the right time, might want to throw a couple more apples in the bag.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Angel Yin withdrew from the Chevron Championship after carding a first-round 78. Yin, who was in a wheelchair earlier this season after breaking her left ankle in Austria, was in too much pain to carry on at the Club at Carlton Woods.
Defending champion Lilia Vu didn’t even make it to the first tee on Thursday before she had to withdraw with pain back. The two players who squared off in a playoff here last year were too banged up to give it another go.
Yin made her first start of the season two weeks at the T-Mobile Match Play in Las Vegas where she took a share of fifth.
Angel Yin withdrew following her first round at The Chevron Championship due to a foot injury. @LPGA
Yin told Golfweek on the eve of the championship that she felt a great deal of pain walking the fairways of Jack Nicklaus Signature Course and during the follow-through of her swing. Cross-country flights seemed to make things worse.
While Yin wouldn’t reveal the details of what she was doing during the time of the “avoidable accident,” she did say that she made a mistake by taking off her air cast every night for two weeks in Austria.
“That was wrong,” she said. “My doctor was not too happy.”
With the Olympics on the line, Yin was pleased to be back in action in time for the first major of the year. A little nervous, too.
Odds of Pond keeping his new job though, so far, look pretty good.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — John Pond had just quit his job in fundraising at the University of Virginia to come travel with his wife, Lauren Coughlin, full-time on the LPGA when a new opportunity presented itself. Coughlin split with her longtime caddie after the spring Asian swing, and Pond begged her to give him the job.
Coughlin said she’d give him three weeks.
“I’ll know after three weeks if we can do it,” said Coughlin. “When I say we, I mean me.”
The Chevron Championship marks their fourth week together, and Coughlin holds the clubhouse lead at the year’s first major after an opening 6-under 66. She tied for eighth in their first week together and took a share of 32nd the following week in Las Vegas. Last week, the couple attended the Masters together for the first time.
Coughlin and Pond first met at a football Christmas party at the University of Virginia where they lived in the same dorm. Pond, a “mediocre center” on the football team, said his roommate at the time took her on one date, and they later bonded over the fact that she had a car.
“At UVA, you can’t have a car first year and the big boys need to eat,” said Pond with a smile. “So I took full advantage of that, and then that turned into a relationship.”
He proposed at the 2016 ACC Championship after the Cavaliers won the team title, and Coughlin captured her first individual win. Coughlin’s coach gave the mic to Pond during the trophy presentation, and he got down on one knee to pop the question.
For most of their married life, they’ve gone weeks at a time without seeing each other. Pond said they’re probably still in the honeymoon phase even though they’ve been married for six years.
Pond’s decision to leave his job to start taking on a more managerial role – now as caddie – means that they’re going all in on Coughlin’s career.
“I don’t think we’re oblivious to the fact that she’s 31 years old,” said Pond. “Everybody that’s been around her and been with her knows what she’s capable of. I think it would be selfish of me not to give her every opportunity.
Of course, that means that the family’s financial success for now, at least, rests on Coughlin, who has made $126,980 this season inside the ropes before expenses. Pond tells his wife all the time that whether she wins 10 times or never at all or barely keeps her card, his greatest desire is that she leaves the tour with no regrets.
“If you don’t give it everything you have,” he told her, “one day you’ll be sitting there telling people what you could’ve been, not what you were.”
Coughlin, currently 94th in the Rolex Rankings, liked the idea of traveling the world together while they still can. And, after Pond supported them with a steady paycheck early on in the marriage, they’re now in a place where one income won’t put a strain on the budget. Their first globetrotting trip together after Pond left his job included stops in Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Singapore and China.
“He was always like worst case, if after a year we don’t like it,” said Coughlin, “I can go back and get a job again.”
Because they’ve spent so much time apart, Pond didn’t want to do a 180-degree turn and have them spend every waking hour together. He sets up his day the way any other caddie would, getting up around 6 a.m. to go walk nine holes, and then meets Coughlin at the course when she’s ready. This week they’re staying close to the course at Couglin’s parents’ house in The Woodlands, but when they’re away from family on the road they’ll get two rental cars. They typically don’t spend too much time together early week, he said.
When Coughlin finished practice early on Wednesday, for example, Pond went to the store for three hours to give her space to watch “crappy TV shows” if she wanted.
When they are together, Coughlin doesn’t want their conversations to be all about her golf.
“Which, of course, I enjoy that he cares that much,” she said, “but it’s just like, I don’t always love it always being about me and my golf game, specifically.”
Last month during the Ford Championship in Arizona, as Pond, whose handicap is a “dangerous 12,” got fitted by Ping, Coughlin was puttering around a stumbled upon a new putter.
While Coughlin’s ball-striking remains strong, it’s the improvement in short game over the past two years that has really made a difference. A couple of the par saves she made on the front nine Thursday wouldn’t have happened earlier in her LPGA career, Pond said.
Coughlin’s parents moved to The Woodlands a dozen years ago the day after she moved into her UVA dorm. When she’s in town, Coughlin typically practices at the nearby Woodlands Country Club.
She’s happy to be sleeping in her own bed this week. Dad cooked her breakfast Thursday morning, and they had a bunch of friends over for dinner on Tuesday.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Coughlin, “and relaxing for sure, not having to be in host housing or hotel, have a real true home feel to it.”
Coughlin might not be a household name, but she’s got a built-in fanbase with No Laying Up. She’s been part of their Young Hitters program since 2019 and has the NLU logo on the bag.
There’s a financial component to the sponsorship, of course, but it’s the intangibles that have meant the most to Coughlin. She said a few years back that anytime she hangs out with the NLU crew, she comes back loving golf even more.
It’s still early in this championship, but Coughlin has never placed better than a share of 15th at a major, which came last year at the KPMG Women’s PGA. She’s had four top-10 finishes on the LPGA since 2022, her best coming at the CPKC Women’s Open where she tied for sixth. She debuted at the Chevron last year and missed the cut.
“It’s only one round,” said Coughlin when asked about the pressure of leading a major.
Odds of Pond keeping his new job though, so far, look pretty good.
