This week, the spotlight in professional golf shifts to the LPGA Tour with the Chevron Championship, the first major of the season, featuring the world`s elite women golfers. Concurrently, Rory McIlroy is set to play for the first time since his career Grand Slam achievement at the Masters.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda is aiming to defend her championship at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. Last year, Korda made history by joining Nancy Lopez and Annika Sörenstam as the only players on the LPGA Tour to secure five consecutive victories. Korda is yet to win this season.
Following his playoff victory over Justin Rose at Augusta National, McIlroy is returning to action at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the sole team event on the PGA Tour schedule.
McIlroy and his teammate, Shane Lowry, are attempting to become the first duo to defend their Zurich Classic title since the team format was introduced in 2017.
The LIV Golf League is also resuming play this week at Club De Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City, starting Friday.
Here`s a summary of key storylines in golf this week:
Korda`s Title Defense
Nelly Korda arrived at last year`s Chevron Championship having already claimed four victories that season. She added her fifth win there with a two-stroke margin over Maja Stark, securing her second major title. Korda went on to win seven times in 2024, including the Mizuho Americas Open and The Annika.
In her sixth start this season, Korda is still seeking her initial win. She finished as runner-up at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in early February and tied for seventh 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 expressed improved confidence in her iron game after tying for 16th last week at the JM Eagle LA Championship in Tarzana, California, and is anticipating her putting to regain form.
“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.”
Earlier this month, Korda mentioned she relaxes by building Lego sets. Last week, she completed a McLaren Formula 1 set given to her by a fan, along with a Simba model 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.”
Glad to Compete Again
Lilia Vu, the winner of the 2023 Chevron Championship, admitted she wasn`t certain she would ever play golf professionally again after withdrawing from last year`s first major 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 pulling out before 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 recalled. “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 absence from competitive golf as the “hardest two months” of her life. During her recovery, she spent time reading and listening to audiobooks. She also missed the U.S. Women`s Open before returning to achieve runner-up finishes at 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.”
Zhang Recovering from Injury
Rose Zhang, a former two-time NCAA Division I national champion, will be absent for 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 withdrawal from the second round.
In an Instagram post on April 6, Zhang wrote: “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.”
Zhang is currently completing her studies at Stanford University, limiting her LPGA appearances to just three events this year. She tied for 10th in the Tournament of Champions and missed the cut at the Ford Championship in late March.
Her return date to competition remains uncertain.
Lindblad`s Quick Success
Following her first LPGA win last week at the JM Eagle LA Championship, achieved in only her third start as a rookie, former LSU standout Ingrid Lindblad received some unexpected direct messages on Instagram.
One message came from Annika Sörenstam, a 10-time major champion, and another from Suzann Pettersen, the recent European Solheim Cup team captain.
“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 prominent figure in women`s professional golf. She was the runner-up at the 2022 Augusta National Women`s Amateur and held the No. 1 ranking in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 53 weeks.
At the 2022 U.S. Women`s Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, she carded a 6-under 65 in the opening round, marking the lowest score by an amateur in the event`s history. She finished tied for 11th at 1 under. Last year, Lindblad tied for 26th at 5 under at the Amundi Evian Championship.
The Swedish golfer needed only nine starts on the Epson Tour last year to secure her LPGA card.
Beyond the congratulatory messages from Sörenstam and Pettersen, Lindblad encountered another surprise since her win on Sunday.
“I`m supposed to pay for one bag when I fly Delta,” Lindblad mentioned. “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 Unexpected Assistance
After claiming his first PGA Tour victory in nearly three years at last week`s RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links, Justin Thomas gave reporters an unexpected answer regarding his significant improvement in putting this season.
He credited two-time major winner Xander Schauffele for helping him change his approach. Late last year, Thomas invited Schauffele for a practice round near their homes in Jupiter, Florida.
“You guys obviously know Xander, but he doesn`t leave any box unchecked,” Thomas said. “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.”
Thomas realized he lacked a consistent “home base” or method for practicing his putting.
A year ago, Thomas ranked 174th on tour in strokes gained: putting (minus-.478). This season, he ranks 24th in the same statistic (.459) and was 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 explained. “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.”
Thomas Sticking with His Caddie
In securing his first win on tour since the 2022 PGA Championship, Justin Thomas was assisted by Max Homa`s former caddie, Joe Greiner. However, Thomas confirmed on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio on Monday that his regular caddie, Matt “Rev” Minister, will return to his bag 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.”