It was a perfect central Florida day when Nelly Korda reached the first tee at posh Lake Nona on Thursday. Temperature was perfect, low 70s, none of that summer humidity and just a pure Chamber of Commerce day for the world’s No. 1 to go out and show her stuff.
It wasn’t a perfect start for Nelly, who won the Gainbridge event last year on this track. She bogeyed two of her first four holes. Perhaps her talent slept in but it woke up quickly with a great approach to the par four fifth that set up the day’s first birdie. She stuffed her tee shot at the par three sixth inside seven feet and found herself back to even par that quickly. Birdies come in bunches when Nelly gets rolling and she added a third straight at the seventh to kick-start her round.
“I was just kind of spraying it everywhere, left, right, you name it,” Korda said. “I was just like, OK, so this is going to be a grind today, which it was. That first birdie kind of gave me a little bit of confidence, a boost going into the next couple holes.”
By day’s end she fashioned an opening four-under par 68 despite the shaky start. By day’s end, she was just a shot behind first-round leader Gabby Lopez.
Lopez found the going good during her trip around the testy Lake Nona layout. It’s no pushover and only eight of the 29-player field broke 70. “Today was a pretty clean round,” said Lopez. “I think we barely made any mistakes. My caddie and I did a great job with strategy,” said Lopez, whose only bogey came at the par five 11th. Bogeys on par fives drive players crazy but Gabby shook it off. She’s comfortable in these limited field settings, she won this event in 2020 on a different venue.
But the talent level in pursuit is high. Nelly led that group at 68 that included Danielle Kang, new Japanese citizen and U.S. Open champion Yuka Saso and Ryan O’Toole.
Kang spent a lot of time last season trying to get her game back in order and her work with Butch Harmon showed well on opening day.
Kang’s scorecard had just one bogey and five birdies, including one at 18 to finish her day’s work. “It was kind of a little rusty, but I made really good putts; missed a few. I think on the first hole I almost three-putted from about 4 feet. I hit a four-footer I think seven or eight feet by. That was kind of fun,” Kang said with a touch of sarcasm. “I was more worried about or focused on what I needed to work on so I wasn’t really focused on the results more so than anything.”
The defending champion made her presence known. Jessica, the “other” Korda sister, would have been in that group at 68 had it not been for a closing bogey at 18.
There’s also a celebrity component to this event and it’s no surprise who was at the top of that list on day one. Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam, who had 72 wins during her storied career, scored 33 points in the Modified Stableford format. She’s got a huge home-course advantage — her home sits on the 16th hole at Lake Nona.
This is the first of three straight Florida events for the world’s No. 1. After this, Nelly will defend at the Gainbridge near her home in Boca Raton then it’s the Drive-On, a new event in Ft. Myers. After that the LPGA Tour takes the month of February off and heads to Asia with events in Singapore and Thailand. The world’s No. 1 will skip that swing. Truth be known, Nelly’s taken one week off the past two months. She’ll take a six-week break after this Florida Swing.
“That’s going to be my off-season,” she explained.
But first she’s got work to do. Both Kordas won to start last season.
We wonder if they might repeat that act over the next few weeks.
One Comment
baxter cepeda
That will be a long break For Nelly.
I don’t quite understand how Nelly has had one off week in the last 2 months when the tour has been off for a while; I realize she played PNC 2 days since the season ended; but what else
Has kept her so busy?
It is smart to take the Asia swing off to avoid travel weariness but 6 weeks off makes me a bit nervous for her. Most ladies will be playing themselves into midsession form by then.