EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — The Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 is lurking through 36 holes at The Amundi Evian Championship.

Nelly Korda carded a 4-under 67 on Thursday to kick off her week in France, a first-round effort that saw the 15-time LPGA Tour winner make two bogeys and six birdies at Evian Resort Golf Club. She got off to a bit of a wild start on day one – bogeying the first hole, making birdies on two and three and then dropping another shot on four to ultimately break even in that opening stretch.

But Korda settled down after that, going bogey-free over the next 14 holes and picking up four more birdies on seven, 11, 15 and 18 to post a 67 and sit within two of the early leaders after the first 18 holes in Evian-les-Bains.

“Off the tee, I would say it was like a D,” Korda said to her sister Jessica after the first round in an interview for the broadcast. “I didn't drive it very well, especially with my driver, so I'm going to the range after. Going to FaceTime my coach, Jamie (Mulligan), and figure out what was going on. I had two misses and that's never good on a tight Evian golf course with the rough being pretty thick.

“Putting, as the day went on, progressively got better. Same thing. Around the greens was really good. I saved a couple up and downs, especially with having to pitch out. Overall, a couple parts of my game helped me and rescued me, and the other parts let me down. That's golf. Going to try and figure it out on the range.”

Friday then saw Korda grind out a 1-under 70, as things were much more up-and-down for the two-time major champion. She started her second round with a pair of pars on 10 and 11 and then dropped two shots with a pair of bogeys on 12 and 13. She compounded those errors with a double bogey on what can be an intimidating par-3 16th hole, at the time completely erasing the work she did on Thursday and dropping Korda back to even par for the tournament.

But Korda kept her cool, knowing that she still had plenty of time to claw her way back under par, and that’s exactly what the world No. 1 did in her final 11 holes. After a par on 17, the par-5 18th hole at Evian Resort Golf Club saw Korda find the fairway and then hit a 172-yard 6-iron to approximately 30 feet, burying a double-breaking eagle putt to turn in 38 at 2-under overall.

She then birdied the par-4 4th and 6th holes on the front nine to get back to 4-under, landing one final birdie on the par-5 9th hole to finish with a 70 and sit within five of the 36-hole lead.

This is Korda’s eighth appearance in The Amundi Evian Championship, and in her seven previous starts in this major tournament, she has finished in the top 25 on four different occasions, most recently doing so in 2023, when she tied for ninth at Evian Resort Golf Club.

Much has been made of her lack of wins in 2025, particularly as Korda collected seven of her 15 career LPGA titles in 2024 alone. But even though she has yet to find victory lane on Tour this year, it’s still been a solid season for the 26-year-old Floridian, who hasn’t missed any cuts thus far and finished inside the top 15 six times in her 10 events ahead of this week in France, most notably tying for second at the U.S. Women’s Open and tying for 14th at The Chevron Championship.

And now, Korda has put herself in a good position heading into the weekend at The Amundi Evian Championship, as she sits just five strokes behind 36-hole leader Somi Lee, and will be working to shore up a few little mistakes as she tries to close the gap between her and the top of the leaderboard over the next two days in pursuit of a third major title.

Nelly Korda Near the Lead Through Two Rounds at The Amundi Evian Championship

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