ERIN, Wis. — Nelly Korda’s U.S. Women’s Open profile status has read “it’s complicated” through her first 10 appearances in the major. Perhaps she’ll be able to update come Sunday.
The World No. 1 needed to step up on Friday at Erin Hills Golf Club, and she did just that. With a five-under 67—two strokes better than her best previous score in 36 rounds played at the national championship—the 26-year-old put herself in contention for the weekend, thanks to a putter that got hot at just the right time.
When Korda finished her round under overcast skies Friday afternoon, she sat at five-under 139 overall, three shots off the clubhouse lead held by Mao Saigo, winner last month at the Chevron Championship.
“I feel like I've had a very complicated relationship with U.S. Opens, but I'm happy to be in the position I am heading into the weekend,” Korda said.
Still searching for her first win in 2025 after a seven-win season a year ago, Korda has two top-10 finishes in the U.S. Women’s Open, along with three missed cuts. Surprisingly, she’s never been in the top-five after 36 holes.
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In contrast to her opening round Thursday, in which she was -0.77 strokes gained/putting, Korda was much improved with the flatstick on Friday. She hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation and made 103 feet of putts. She needed 30 putts to navigate the tricky Erin Hills greens, gaining 1.16 strokes gained/putting when the round ended, and that was with two short misses.
“I definitely felt a little bit more confident on the putting green,” Korda said. “I made some putts. Made two kind of silly bogeys. Other than that, felt really good out there.”
Korda has won two majors but not this one, but the U.S. Women’s Open is a championship she covets. Asked if a U.S. Women’s Open would validate her career, she noted: “You can ask me that on Sunday.”
In a post-round interview with NBC—where she was asked to talk through her round over highlights—she was shown her short missed putts on No. 15 and No. 2 among all the makes. When the second miss was shown, Korda nervously laughed and said: “why are you guys showing me this?”
After her round, Korda did what she always does in signing autographs for all the children who want them. She and Lexi Thompson and Charley Hull made for a star-studded group the last two days ,and their gallery showed it.
“It was great. I love playing in front of a crowd like this, and playing alongside Lexi and Charley was so much fun,” Korda said. “I always enjoy playing with them. I'm excited to see everyone come out on the weekend, but so far Thursday and Friday did not disappoint crowd-wise.”
Korda hopes to put those short missed putts behind with some family time; she’s staying at a rental house in the area and her parents are here, too. Korda said she’ll probably read, take a nap and spend time with her family. She talked about playing ping pong with her dad, Petr, the former professional tennis player.
Nelly Korda's putting was much improved on Friday, allowing her to shoot a career-best 67 score in 36 rounds at the U.S. Women's Open.
Patrick McDermott
That doesn’t exactly sound chill, since they’re both such competitors. Korda usually wins those matches.
In order to hoist the trophy, Korda will need to stay in contention in the third round and finish in the red on Sunday. In 2023, she shot a final-round 80. In 2022, she shot a 73 and finished tied for eighth and in 2018, she shot a final-round 73 and finished tied for 10th. There’s some work to do, and maybe a few demons to overcome
Still, she’s never had a round like Friday in the U.S. Women’s Open.
“It's very demanding in every part of your game, off the tee, into the greens, on the green, too,” Korda said. “You never can feel like you can take a deep breath, like you can relax, because something is always next. It's a very demanding shot.
“Same thing with mental. At the end of the day that's just major championship golf. That's why we do what we do is to play these types of golf courses in this type of scenery where it just tests every part of your game.”
It's a mindset that might allow Korda to change her U.S. Women's Open status to "champion" come Sunday.
