As Rory McIlroy makes his first appearance since his Masters victory completed the career Grand Slam, the focus in professional golf this week shifts to the LPGA Tour. The world`s elite women golfers are set to compete in the Chevron Championship, marking the first major tournament of the year.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda aims to secure another win at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas, where she is the defending champion. Last year, Korda achieved a rare feat, joining legends Nancy Lopez and Annika Sörenstam by winning five consecutive starts on the LPGA Tour. However, she is still seeking her first victory this season.
Following his playoff triumph over Justin Rose at Augusta National, McIlroy is back in action at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. This event is unique on the PGA Tour schedule as its only team competition.
McIlroy and his playing partner, Shane Lowry, are attempting to become the first duo to successfully defend their title at the Zurich Classic since the team format was introduced in 2017.
Elsewhere, the LIV Golf League circuit also resumes competition this Friday at Club De Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City.
Here`s a closer look at the key storylines in golf this week:
Korda`s Major Title Defense
When Nelly Korda arrived at the Chevron Championship last year, she had already claimed four victories that season and would go on to win her fifth consecutive start, capturing her second major championship by two strokes over Maja Stark. Korda finished 2024 with seven wins, including the Mizuho Americas Open and The Annika later in the year.
In the current season, Korda is searching for her initial win, making this her sixth event. Her best results include a runner-up finish at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in early February and a tie for seventh place at the Founders Cup.
“I would say last year is last year,” Korda stated. “This is a brand new year. What I achieved last year, no one can take that from me. That`s always going to be such a great memory, but it`s a fresh week and fresh mindset.”
Korda feels her iron play has improved after tying for 16th at 14 under par at last week`s JM Eagle LA Championship in Tarzana, California. She is now focusing on getting her putting back on track.
“I think that`s where it`s been lacking, is the putts that I was making last year,” Korda noted. “I`m just not making as many this year, but that`s just golf. I`ve gone through waves like this before, and if I just continue working at it, hopefully it does click.”
Korda recently shared that she unwinds by building Lego sets. Last week, she completed a McLaren Formula 1 set given to her by a fan, alongside a model of Simba from `The Lion King.`
“Going to make my dad do LEGOs with me this week,” Korda said. “Maybe do some games. We both are really competitive. Something we always played together, Sequence. I think I am going to pick that up. Stuff like that gets my mind off it.”
Happy to Just Be Playing
Lilia Vu, the champion of the 2023 Chevron Championship, admitted she wasn`t sure she would ever be able to play golf again after withdrawing from the event last year due to a back injury. Vu revealed on Tuesday that she couldn`t even hit a golf ball 40 yards on the practice range before her withdrawal prior to the first round.
“I think last year I was so much in panic with would I ever play a golf round again, let alone a tournament round?” Vu commented. “At that point, you think about different things. Not even defending that tournament; I can`t even play one hole, so that was kind of going through my mind. It was a good time to reevaluate everything.”
Vu described her extended break from competitive golf as the “hardest two months” of her life. She spent time reading and listening to audiobooks during her recovery. She also missed the U.S. Women`s Open but returned later in the season to tie for second place at both the Women`s PGA Championship and the Women`s British Open.
“Just tried my best to become a better person,” Vu said. “That`s all I could improve at that point. Physically, I was trying my best with [physical therapy] and learning how to breathe correctly and fixing my posture, the way I sit.”
“Just a whole kind of life change I would say. I think everything happens for a reason, and I think that needed to happen so that I could have more body awareness.”
Rose Zhang Sidelined
Former two-time NCAA Division I national champion Rose Zhang will miss her second consecutive tournament as she recovers from a neck injury. The injury occurred during her first-round match at the T-Mobile Match Play in Las Vegas on April 3, forcing her to withdraw from her second-round match.
In a post on her Instagram account on April 6, Zhang shared: “Safe to say, things haven`t been too hot for me in the golf realm and I found myself struggling to compete in high spirits due to an injury. Just remember, this isn`t a sob story. While this period is unique and frustrating, I find great optimism in getting better and working hard to compete at the highest level.”
As Zhang is completing her studies at Stanford University, she has participated in only three LPGA events this year. She tied for 10th in the Tournament of Champions and missed the cut at the Ford Championship in late March.
Her anticipated return date to competition remains uncertain.
Lindblad`s Rapid Success
Following her breakthrough LPGA victory in just her third start as a rookie at last week`s JM Eagle LA Championship, former LSU standout Ingrid Lindblad received a couple of unexpected direct messages on Instagram.
One message came from Annika Sörenstam, a legendary 10-time major championship winner, and the other from Suzann Pettersen, the most recent captain of the European Solheim Cup team.
“Couple of bigger names, in my opinion, that kind of congratulated me,” Lindblad commented. “Pretty cool. Your name is out there. You`re not a total stranger.”
Lindblad may soon become a household name in women`s professional golf herself. She was the runner-up at the 2022 Augusta National Women`s Amateur and held the No. 1 position in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for an impressive 53 weeks.
At the 2022 U.S. Women`s Open held at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina, she carded a remarkable 6-under 65 in the first round, setting a record for the lowest score by an amateur in the event`s history. She finished tied for 11th at 1 under par. Lindblad also tied for 26th at 5 under in last year`s Amundi Evian Championship.
The Swedish golfer needed only nine starts on the Epson Tour last year to earn her LPGA playing card.
The congratulatory messages from Sörenstam and Pettersen weren`t the only pleasant surprises she`s experienced since her win on Sunday.
“I`m supposed to pay for one bag when I fly Delta,” Lindblad said. “They waived my baggage fee and I`m like, `Alright.` But I don`t know if that was me or they did something wrong.”
Schauffele`s Unlikely Assistance to JT
After claiming his first PGA Tour victory in almost three years at last week`s RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Justin Thomas offered reporters an unexpected explanation for his significant improvement in putting this season.
He attributed his turnaround to two-time major champion Xander Schauffele. Towards the end of last year, Thomas invited Schauffele to play a practice round near their homes in Jupiter, Florida.
“You guys obviously know Xander, but he doesn`t leave any box unchecked,” Thomas explained. “Like he said that day, he`s like, `If it has anything to do with you potentially improving in golf, I`ve probably done it or tried it.` So I just was talking to him about this process and how he reads greens and how he sees things and his practice and everything.”
Through their conversation, Thomas realized he lacked a consistent “home base” or structured approach when practicing his putting.
A year ago, Thomas ranked 174th on the tour in strokes gained: putting (averaging -.478 strokes lost per round). This season, he has significantly improved to 24th in that statistic (averaging +.459 strokes gained per round) and ranked seventh in the field over 72 holes at Hilton Head Island.
“I think more than anything, it was just sort of he was searching and maybe trying too hard,” Schauffele reflected. “He`s done so many good things in the past that it was sort of like maybe an eye-opening. Sort of like, `I used to do, three, four, five of the things we were talking about, and I stopped doing them because I was down this crazy rabbit hole of trying to get better.`”
“[I] felt like all the answers were right in front of him. JT is so good that he figured it out pretty quickly.”
JT Retains Regular Caddie
While Justin Thomas secured his first win since the 2022 PGA Championship with Max Homa`s former caddie, Joe Greiner, on the bag, Thomas confirmed to SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio on Monday that his regular caddie, Matt `Rev` Minister, will resume looping for him once he recovers from a back injury.
“We all knew that going in — it was very much a fill-in situation,” Thomas stated. “We were so lucky that Joe was available until Rev got healthy.”
