Chasing 5th straight win, Nelly Korda is 2 shots back at Chevron Championship

Nelly Korda who is looking to tie an LPGA Tour record with her fifth straight win shot a 4under 68 on Thursday in the opening round of the Chevron Championship leaving her two shots behind leader Lauren Coughlin in the years first majorCoughlin shot a bogeyfree 66 in windy conditions at Carlton Woods which is hosting the event for the second time The topranked Korda is seeking her second major after winning the Womens PGA Championship in 2021 She could join Nancy Lopez 1978 and Annika Sorenstam 200405 as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA eventsKorda said she was battling fatigue from recent tournaments at the beginning of her round She bogeyed her first hole the par4 10th I could definitely still feel maybe a little bit of tiredness so it took me a while to get going she said I felt the nerves definitely at the start of the round Once I made the turn I was just playing free golfShe made her first birdie on the par4 14th hole something she halfjokingly credited to a snack I actually had an apple on 13 and that gave me actually a nice boost she said I felt a lot better after that Maybe I should have apples more often The 25yearold finished with six birdies including four in the final six holesAlso ReadIPL 2024 Rishabh Pant set for emotional homecoming vs inform SRHTwo of them were par 5s so I got to take advantage of that with my length she said Hit a really good tee shot and then I was just on the front of the green on 17 and the other one I was just on the fringe too I twoputted pretty much for birdie on those Then I had wedge shots in on the other two too Taking advantage of my length and hitting good tee shotsMarina Alex and Japans Minami Katsu also shot 68 Lydia Ko was one of five players at 69 The 31yearold Coughlin who played in college at Virginia and has never won on the LPGA Tour made three birdies in a fourhole span from Nos 25 She believes her game has benefited from her recent decision to make husband John Pond her fulltime caddieHes really good at talking through everything when I want to get really fast and make a decision really quickly Coughlin said He is really good at putting all the work in all the extra work all the extra walking making sure the strategy is really good and double checking everything But hes always been really good with how he talks to me and communicates what he thinks I need to do and how I need to do itAlso ReadIPL 2024 It is going really well I am almost there Suryakumar opens up on his fitnessDefending champion and world No 2 Lilia Vu withdrew because of a back injury She issued a statement on Instagram saying she had severe discomfort in her back during warmups I have been dealing with a back injury for a while now Vu said in the statement Some days are better than others and today was unfortunately not a good day During my normal warmup routine I had severe discomfort in my back and I felt that I could not compete up to my standards and made the decision to withdraw from the tournament ahead of my tee time She added that she was returning home to see her doctors and determine the next stepsLater in the day last years runnerup Angel Yin withdrew because of an injury after shooting 78 A win by Ko would put her in the LPGA Hall of Fame She won the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January for her 20th LPGA titleThe 26yearold New Zealander admitted that she still gets nervous before tournaments despite all her experience and success It doesnt matter what event were playing or what circumstances when youre younger you want to get away from the nerves Ko said To some extent as long as you can control it the nerves are good for you and youre able to excel and get the adrenaline to hit some shots that you may not be able to execute when youre just practicing