As Rory McIlroy makes his return to the competitive circuit following his career Grand Slam achievement at the Masters, professional golf`s primary focus shifts to the LPGA Tour this week. The world`s top female golfers are gathering for the Chevron Championship, marking the first major tournament of the season.
World number one Nelly Korda will be aiming to successfully defend her title at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. Last year, Korda entered the LPGA history books alongside legends Nancy Lopez and Annika Sörenstam by winning five consecutive tournaments. However, she is still seeking her first victory of the current year.
After his victory over Justin Rose in a playoff at Augusta National, McIlroy is scheduled to compete again at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which stands as the only team event on the PGA Tour calendar.
McIlroy and his teammate, Shane Lowry, are hoping to become the first pair to defend their championship at the Zurich Classic since the tournament adopted a team format in 2017.
The LIV Golf League is also scheduled to resume action this week at Club De Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City, starting on Friday.
Here`s a look at notable storylines in golf this week:
Korda`s Major Defense
When Nelly Korda arrived at the Chevron Championship last year, she had already claimed four victories for the season. She added her fifth consecutive win with a two-stroke lead over Maja Stark, securing her second career major title. Korda went on to win seven times in 2024, including the Mizuho Americas Open in May and The Annika in November.
This season marks Korda`s sixth start, and she is still looking for her breakthrough win. Her best results so far include a runner-up finish at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in early February and tying for seventh at the Founders Cup.
Reflecting on the past year, Korda stated, “I would say last year is last year. 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 feels her iron play has improved after tying for 16th last week at the JM Eagle LA Championship. She is now focusing on getting her putting performance back to its previous level.
“I think that`s where it`s been lacking, is the putts that I was making last year,” Korda commented. “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 shared that she relaxes by building Lego sets. Last week, she completed a McLaren Formula 1 kit given to her by a fan, as well as a model of Simba 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.”
Happy to be There
Lilia Vu, the champion of the 2023 Chevron Championship, revealed that she questioned whether she would ever be able to play golf again after withdrawing from last year`s first major due to a back injury. Vu explained on Tuesday that she couldn`t hit a golf ball even 40 yards on the driving range before making the decision to withdraw before the opening 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 shared. “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 break from competitive golf as the “hardest two months” of her life. She spent her recovery time reading and listening to audio books. She also missed the U.S. Women`s Open but returned to tie for second place at both the Women`s PGA Championship and the Women`s British Open.
“Just tried my best to become a better person,” Vu reflected. “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 on the Mend
Former two-time NCAA Division I national champion Rose Zhang will miss her second consecutive tournament start as she continues to recover 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 her second-round match.
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.”
As Zhang is completing her studies at Stanford, she has only participated in three LPGA events this year. Her results include a tie for 10th in the Tournament of Champions and missing the cut at the Ford Championship in late March.
Her return to competition remains uncertain at this time.
Lindblad`s Rapid Success
After securing her first LPGA victory in just her third start as a rookie at last week`s JM Eagle LA Championship, former LSU standout Ingrid Lindblad received several unexpected direct messages on Instagram.
Among them were messages from Annika Sörenstam, a 10-time major champion, and Suzann Pettersen, the recent captain of the European Solheim Cup team.
“Couple of bigger names, in my opinion, that kind of congratulated me,” Lindblad shared. “Pretty cool. Your name is out there. You`re not a total stranger.”
It seems likely that Lindblad will soon become a familiar name in women`s professional golf. She finished as runner-up at the 2022 Augusta National Women`s Amateur and held the No. 1 position in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 53 weeks.
At the 2022 U.S. Women`s Open, she carded a 6-under 65 in the opening round, setting a record for the lowest score by an amateur in the event. She finished tied for 11th at 1 under. Lindblad also tied for 26th at 5 under at last year`s Amundi Evian Championship.
Lindblad, who hails from Sweden, needed only nine starts on the Epson Tour last year to earn her LPGA card.
The congratulatory messages from Sörenstam and Pettersen were not the only pleasant surprises she experienced since her victory 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 Provides Unexpected Assist
After claiming his first PGA Tour victory in almost three years at last week`s RBC Heritage, Justin Thomas offered reporters an unexpected explanation for his significant improvement in putting performance this season.
He attributed the turnaround to two-time major winner Xander Schauffele. Towards the end of last year, Thomas asked Schauffele to join him for a practice round near their homes in Jupiter, Florida.
“You guys obviously know Xander, but he doesn`t leave any box unchecked,” Thomas explained. “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.”
Through their conversation, Thomas realized he lacked a consistent “home base” or routine when practicing his putting.
A year ago, Thomas ranked 174th on tour in strokes gained: putting (minus-.478). This season, he has climbed to 24th in that statistic (.459) and ranked seventh in the field over 72 holes at the RBC Heritage.
“I think more than anything, it was just sort of he was searching and maybe trying too hard,” Schauffele reflected on Thomas`s previous struggles. “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.”
JT Sticking with His Caddie
In securing his first tour win since the 2022 PGA Championship, Justin Thomas had Max Homa`s former caddie, Joe Greiner, on his bag. However, Thomas confirmed on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio on Monday that his regular caddie, Matt `Rev` Minister, will resume his duties 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.”
