Nelly Korda began her 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship with an even par 72 on Thursday as part of the morning wave, and trails first-round leader Jeeno Thitikul by four shots after the latter fired an opening 4-under 68.
The 2021 champ is nursing an injured neck and earlier this week said she “went into a full spasm” after hitting a shot out of the rough during her practice round on Monday. The 26-year-old says the pain is much more under control now, and she seemed fairly content with her opening round.
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“Overall, even par to start the major, I mean, it was windier than I thought it would be. So it played a little tougher,” Korda told the media after her round. “Yeah, I'm pretty happy with my first round in the conditions. It was pretty windy. It was hot. It definitely takes a toll on you, the Texas heat. So happy with my position.”
Korda was asked about how her neck held up on Day 1, and it doesn’t appear it’s affecting her swing much, thankfully.
“It's better, yeah. Getting better every day, which is nice,” Korda said. “Just because I injured it last year, whenever I do injure my neck it takes a little bit longer than normal (to heal). I kind of tweaked it before my round with Ariya (Jutanugarn) in Vegas (in April), during the night; I couldn't move then, so thankfully it wasn't as bad as that day. Yeah, just takes me like a week to kind of recover when I tweak my neck now.”
As far as any lingering pain, Korda says she feels discomfort “just with rotation” right now.
“And it’s hard to sleep at night, too, just kind of getting comfortable,” Korda said.
The No. 1-ranked star feels upbeat about the rest of her week ahead, and expects the course to gather some speed with all this Texas wind and heat.
“Hopefully (my game) trends in the right direction. It’s probably going to play a little firmer tomorrow,” Korda said. “The golf course just kind of plays firmer and faster every single day. I know that they received a little bit of rain last week; not much this week. So projecting it to bake out with the wind and sun.”
