Nelly Korda was standing by her playing mates on the 9th hole. The last hole of the first round for the group, including Hannah Green and Madelene Sagstrom. Korda was yet to hit her tee shot as Sagstrom went ahead, picking her 9-iron.

Now, the 9th at El Caballero Country Club is a short par-3. It stretches barely 127 yards. Very much reachable with a 9-iron. But a hole-in-one? Surely, no one expected. So, when the ball rolled into the cup, Korda was more excited than Sagstrom herself. The European pro, apparently not very athletic as she admitted in the post-round interview, only threw her arms up in the air. 

The odds of nailing an ace are 2500 to 1 for professional golfers. No wonder Nelly Korda was shouting and was glad to witness what her partner did. It was Sagstrom’s first career hole-in-one. Korda, who got hers at the CME Group Tour Championship in 2023, knew how fulfilling and funny that feeling is. But at the same time, she had to finish her round as well. 

So, the two-time major champion had to calm herself down to stay in contention. The 26-year-old said in the post-round media interaction, “I didn’t see it go in but I was the first one to give her a high five I think because I was next up. I was like, okay, now it’s my turn to go, so I need to calm down. It’s always super exciting to get to do that also on the last hole.”

Nelly Korda, however, bogeyed it. Ironically, she hit 18 greens in regulation in the opening round, but in the last hole, she three-putted on the final hole. Currently, the world’s best female golfer is tied for 15th on the leaderboard ahead of her title defense at the Chevron Championship. Before that, the world No. 1 was pretty confident about her game. 

Nelly Korda is getting all the good vibes about her game

Last year, this time, Korda was on a red-hot stretch of form, winning back-to-back tournaments, almost obliterating the field. Not that 2025 has been bad, but the world no.1 is not in her 2024 groove. Korda, speaking after the round, said, “Other than that [three putts], I mean, I played really solid off the tee and into the greens. Hopefully, I can keep that going into the next few days.”

Korda fluttered four back-to-back birdies in the back nine on her way to 5-under 67. Ahead of the first major of the season, the 26-year-old from Florida has also undergone some swing changes. It took some time to get back into her usual form, but Korda assured she played like ‘herself’ in the first round. 

“I definitely was striking it a lot better off the tee and into the greens, so I’m very happy to see that improvement kind of go into more of tournament golf now,” the two-time major champion added. She will tee off at 12:59 PM ET on Friday for the second round.