LOS ANGELES — Nelly Korda didn’t let the frustration of her first-round 73 bleed over into the second round on Friday at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally.

Korda was 2-over on Thursday at Riviera Country Club, a questionable start that saw her make four bogeys and two birdies on the par-5 first and par-5 11th holes, and that left the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 in a somewhat uncomfortable position early in her national open.

But Nelly was determined not to get too down in the dumps about that over-par performance, a mindset that paid off in spades on Friday in Los Angeles.

“I just tried to have a really easygoing attitude today,” said Korda when asked how she has learned to shed her frustration with less-than-ideal golf. “I was definitely going to leave it all out there and grind as much as I could, but I was not going to emphasize on my mistakes too much and just kind of play relaxed golf. That's kind of when I play my best golf.”

With that positive attitude in mind—and a helpful swing tip provided by her older sister Jessica—Korda was on a mission in the second round, working as hard as she could to play her way back into contention at the tournament that she wants to win the most.

The 18-time LPGA Tour winner shot out of the gate with a birdie on the par-5 first hole after she stuffed her third shot to five feet. Korda then had to wait until the par-4 seventh hole for her next birdie, which she made by knocking her 126-yard approach shot to four feet and draining the resulting birdie try.

Nelly then rolled in an 11-footer for birdie on nine to move to 3-under on the day and get back into red numbers for the tournament. The Olympic gold medalist next got up and down for birdie on the par-5 11th hole after hitting her 67-yard third shot to seven feet, but she then erased that effort with a three-putt bogey on the 12th.

Korda ultimately made her final birdie of the round on the par-5 17th hole and then parred the last to post a 4-under 67, what was the lowest round of day two at Riviera.

“Definitely improved from yesterday, especially off the tee,” said Korda, who hit 11 of 14 fairways on day two in Hollywood. “Found myself in a couple more fairways than I did yesterday, and that helped me be a little bit more aggressive going into the greens. Overall, very happy with my round today.”

Korda has had a fairly terse relationship with the U.S. Women’s Open in the past, finishing in the top 10 just three times since making her championship debut in 2013. Her closest sniff at the Harton S. Semple trophy came last year at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, where Korda tied for second alongside Japan’s Rio Takeda after finishing two strokes behind champion Maja Stark.

The world No. 1 said earlier this week that last year’s performance just made her “hungry for more” during a winless drought that felt incredibly uncharacteristic for the American superstar, a hunger that’s clearly bled over into 2026 and a competitive fire that Korda has kept well-fed so far this season.

In her first six starts of the year, the 27-year-old didn’t finish any worse than T2, winning three times at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, The Chevron Championship and the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba. Her lone result outside of the top two came at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, but Korda still tied for eighth in the event’s debut at Maketewah Country Club, certainly not an effort at which to thumb one’s nose at an unfamiliar venue.

Because of that slate of impressive results, Korda was one of the clear favorites entering the week at the U.S. Women’s Open, and after almost playing her way out of it on day one, the three-time major champion has reminded everyone exactly why she remains a constant force to be reckoned with, particularly when playing as consistently as she has over the course of this season.

Only two shots currently stand between Nelly and 36-hole co-leaders Alison Lee and Ruoning Yin, the former of which played collegiate golf at UCLA and the latter of which is a major champion, winning the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course.

And considering the pedigree she carries into the weekend upcoming at Riviera, and the “easygoing” attitude that is proving to be an excellent 15th club in Korda’s bag at arguably the game’s toughest major, it feels like Nelly is poised to make a run at the top of the leaderboard, even more so after this latest response to early adversity.

So maybe this year is the one that sees Korda slay her white whale, or maybe not. But there’s one thing that’s for certain—drama will be delivered over the next two days at Riviera.

This property is in for an epic ending that even Hollywood would envy.

Nelly Korda Cards Lowest Round of Friday to Move Into Top 10 at U.S. Women’s Open

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