Nelly Korda is heading into this week’s Chevron Championship firmly sticking to her own formula — choosing not to seek advice from PGA Tour players such as Scottie Scheffler as she prepares for a fresh challenge at Memorial Park Golf Course.
The LPGA’s first major of the season gets underway on Thursday in Houston, Texas, with a venue switch that immediately changes the complexion of the tournament.
The par-72 municipal layout, redesigned in 2019 and also used for the PGA Tour’s annual Texas Children’s Houston Open, is known for demanding aggressive driving while placing a premium on controlled iron play into firm, often unforgiving greens.
It is exactly the kind of setup where many players might lean on outside intel — but Korda has gone the opposite way.
Despite the crossover opportunity to gather insight from PGA Tour competitors who have regularly played the course, Korda has deliberately avoided that route.
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“No, I did not talk to any PGA Tour players,” she told reporters during her Tuesday press conference at Memorial Park GC. “I didn’t watch too much of the event [Houston Open]. We were playing that week so it was quite hard to watch and also compete. But I know that my caddie, Jason, did.”
While her caddie Jason has done some homework through PGA Tour coverage, Korda herself has stayed committed to a more instinctive, self-led approach — something that has become a hallmark of her preparation style.
“For me it’s hard to kind of — I like to suss out a golf course myself and make my decision myself than relying on someone else’s input,” added the world number two.
“Then I have too much information in my mind and I feel like then if I have their information versus what I scope out on the golf course I start to doubt my information and then I’m not 100% confident in what I’m doing.”
That clarity of thought, she suggests, is more important than any borrowed knowledge — especially when conditions and equipment differences between tours can change how a course is played.
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Korda said: “That is kind of why I tend to not always ask for too much information about another golf course, especially from a male to a female, because they have different clubs coming in, the apex of the ball flight is a lot higher than ours.”
Still, she is not going in blind. Early scouting reports suggest a bold, aggressive test awaits when play begins on Thursday.
“So just from what I was told though is that it is kind of like a bomber’s paradise. You’re trying to hit driver on every hole pretty much, get it as close to the green, because it is very sectional and it’s crucial to have probably shorter clubs in to these greens when it is firm.”
Watch Korda’s comments in full here:
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The Texas Children’s Houston Open took place just four weeks ago at Memorial Park, and it provided the greatest story of the season so far on the PGA Tour as Gary Woodland sealed an emphatic five-shot triumph.
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Woodland’s victory was special because it marked his first PGA Tour title since undergoing brain surgery in September 2023.
It also came just months after he revealed his battle with PTSD.
Gary Woodland won at Memorial Park last month
Korda arrives in Houston in blistering form, having already claimed a win in 2026 alongside three consecutive runner-up finishes to open the season.
She is chasing a second Chevron Championship title after her 2024 victory and a third major overall.
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Watch Korda’s full press conference here:
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Despite her encouraging start to the season, Korda still trails Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul in the Rolex Rankings.
Thitikul, an eight-time LPGA winner, is still searching for her first major but enters the week as one of Korda’s biggest challengers as the season’s first major begins on Thursday.
Korda gets her opening round underway off the 10th tee at 1.39pm local time alongside Mao Saigo and Lilia Vu, while Thitikul tees off in the group ahead alongside Brooke Henderson and Ruoning Yin at 1.27pm.
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