Nelly Korda was hoping to once again leave the Chevron Championship with the massive, silver trophy. Instead, she left with a flower bouquet — of the LEGO variety.
Korda, who said earlier this year that she’s been making LEGO sets to help unwind at events, was gifted the bouquet box after wrapping up her title defense Sunday in The Woodlands, Texas.
The world No. 1 closed in 70 to finish tied for 14th. Her opening, ultimately, doomed her as she shot 77 Thursday. Though she rallied to make the cut and got within four of the lead on Saturday, back-to-back doubles ended any chance of a repeat.
Korda lamented her preparation ahead of the season’s first major. She flew from L.A. late Sunday and opted to rest Monday. She got in nine holes during the Tuesday pro-am and practiced a little Wednesday before inclement weather rolled in. She didn’t play in the afternoon, with a Thursday morning tee time.
“At the end of the day, I mean, you’ve got to roll with the punches and you have to continue learning,” Korda said. “I just played the pro-am, the front nine, so I didn’t get to chip, putt, see how the greens were releasing with this new pro-am protocol where we can’t chip or putt anymore, so not having that kind of sucked. But at the end of day, I did have the chance to play in the afternoon on Wednesday and I didn’t take it, so that’s on me.”
Korda is skipping next week’s event, the inaugural Black Desert Championship in Utah, and will be returning for her title defense the following week at the Mizuho Americas Open.
As she seeks her first win of the year, Korda said she’ll spend more time playing and less time on the range between starts.
“My dad will probably go to every one of my practice sessions next week, which I really enjoy,” she said. “He did it with me before I left for L.A. It’s nice because sometimes he just tells me to take a break when I don’t want to.”
