Takeaways from the Chevron Championship — Quotes from L.A.
By Addie Parker
The IX: Golf Thursday with Addie Parker, April 25, 2024
Happy Golf Thursday! I think we’re all still reeling over Sunday’s final round, witnessing Nelly Korda make history with her fifth consecutive win and second major title at the Chevron Championship. Her victorious leap into the pond off the 18th green at The Club at Carlton Woods may have temporarily cooled her down, but Korda seems to be red-hot and heading full charge into the rest of the season.
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Korda has pulled out of this week’s tournament in L.A., but here’s what we can take away from the season’s first major.
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Pace of play
Sunday’s round was … long.
And not just because players had to tee off at the crack of dawn to complete the third round. The final group teed off at 11:36 and didn’t finish until nearly 6 p.m. local time. More than six hours of play is bad for business and often becomes a waiting game when it comes to broadcasting.
Slow pace of play has made some headlines over the last couple of years. Most recently, former ANWA champion Anna Davis was assessed a pace-of-play penalty and missed the cut at this year’s tournament. Last year at the Masters, Brooks Koepka commented on the slow nature of the final round, stating that playing partner Jon Rahm had gone to the bathroom several times during the round and they were still waiting on some holes.
It’s a catch-22, really. Networks don’t allot long-enough slots for women’s golf (especially the majors), but it’s also a bad look when rounds take as long as they do sometimes. From the high handicappers to the pros, we’re all subjected to one of golf’s biggest torments, but what can be done about it? This poll from Golf Digest and PowerPoll offers a few suggestions.
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Lexi Thompson’s major woes continue
Thompson had a positive end to 2023. After the Solheim Cup, she looked like she had found a rhythm with four consecutive top-10 finishes (including the Grant Thornton Invitational). At the Ford Championship, her last event before Chevron, she finished T-3.
Things were looking good for her heading into the first major, but after firing an opening-round 78, Thompson found herself in a hole she couldn’t quite dig herself out of. This was her sixth missed cut at a major over her last seven starts.
The U.S. Women’s Open is just over a month away, and we should fully expect her to take the next few weeks to work out whatever kinks may be going on, but much like last year I believe her sights are set on making the Olympic and Solheim Cup teams later on.
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Paris is fewer than 100 days away
The countdown to the Olympics has officially begun! We’re just 92 days away from the pinnacle of sports, and the rings made a pit stop in Texas last week.
The 2024 schedule is loaded, so it’ll be interesting to see which players opt out of which events to be fresh for the Olympics and which players choose to skip Paris altogether.
In the top 10 at Chevron alone, there were six countries represented, but ultimately Olympic fate is left up to rankings.
Qualification is determined by a ranking and is limited to the top 60 players on the Rolex Official Rankings. The top 15 players are eligible for the Olympic Games, up to a maximum of four golfers from a single country.
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Nelly doing Nelly things
I’d be remiss not to address Nelly Korda’s performance at Chevron. I don’t think too many people (if anyone at all) bet against or doubted that Korda would accomplish five victories in a row. At times, you could pinpoint the shots that she was perhaps hesitant or conservative on, which just proves that she wanted to win more than everyone else watching.
Each of her wins have varied in the way she had to play. From playoffs to comfortable leads and lights-out scoring, Korda has been challenged every step of the way. Despite her dominance, it hasn’t come easy. While she has come out on top, other players (Brooke Henderson, Leona Maguire, Lauren Coughlin, etc.) have taken the fight to her, making things interesting down the stretch.
This bodes well for the world No.1. The more adversity thrown her way matures as she plays (and we get to witness it in real time), combined with resting and knowing exactly which events to compete in over others, will keep her healthy and prepared for the long season ahead.
That raises the question: Who can stop her?
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This week in women’s golf
If you have links you wish to share for Golf Thursday, sources for golf news or want to talk about anything at all, you can email me at addieparker25@theixsports.com! Discussion of any kind is always welcome. … I mean it. … MESSAGE ME!
LPGA news
The tour is in Cali this week for the JM Eagle LA Championship:
- How/where to watch
- Featured groups
- Five things to know about the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro
- With Korda out, who has the best odds at winning the JM Eagle LA Championship
What the final-round results at Chevron tell us about the season so far
More partnership news: Nikon becomes official rangefinder of the LPGA and LET
We’re all just on Nelly Korda’s time
Take a look back at Nelly Korda’s five consecutive victories
LET news
The LET continues its South African swing this week at the Investec South African Women’s Open:
Bronte Law is back in action after weeks off
South African native Lee-Anne Pace is looking for sixth career win this week
Epson Tour news
Up next on the Epson Tour — the West Coast swing
Five things to know about the 2024 IOA Championship Presented by Morongo Casino Resort & Spa
These players are in the mix and looking for their second tour win at the IOA Championship
How the 2023 Epson grads ended up at the Chevron Championship
NCAA/amateur news
The NCAA playoff schedule and how to watch
NCAA conference-championship results
NCAA Division I women’s golf regionals full fields, seeds announced
New Mexico State’s Emma Bunch has won five straight tournaments this spring
Five at The IX: Quotes from L.A.
The LPGA is in L.A. this week for the JM Eagle LA Championship.
Alison Lee on the work to achieve her goals on Tour this year
“I feel like I do have a lot at stake. I want to make the Olympics, Solheim Cup team. I want to win out here. I feel like there are so many things I want to do this year. … These next couple months feel really important to me. I feel like it’s very possible I’ll never get a chance or opportunity again with playing as well as I am and trying to make the teams, the Olympics and Solheim Cup teams, and trying to win. So I’m doing the best I can to just enjoy the moment and have a really good time over the next couple months, but also I have a lot of big goals and dreams for the next couple months.”
Hannah Green on looking ahead to her title defense after last week’s major championship
“Last year I also missed the cut at Chevron [Championship] and came into the week and obviously won. I am pretty good at taking results from the previous week and putting them aside, but it’s maybe a little bit more pressure now that I’ve actually won here. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Rose Zhang on playing in unfamiliar events
“It still feels like I’m a rookie out here just because I have to navigate myself around so many different golf courses. Throughout this first little segment of the year I know that there have been very difficult tracks, so I’ve just been trying to take it in my stride and prepare as best as I can. It always feels like there is always something out there that I need to figure out, so hopefully going into the next couple weeks I’ll take a little bit of a breather in terms of trying to scramble myself around areas and be able to kind of, I guess, hone into my expertise from last year.”
Allisen Corpuz (USC alum) on being back in L.A. and having a tour event in a familiar setting
“Yeah, I love coming back to a familiar stomping grounds. It really does just feel like home. Like I’ve probably played over 100 rounds out here [at Wilshire Country Club] at this point. Just to see how the course just plays a little differently each time you come out. Obviously it’s the same course, but it’s just fun to really get to know it, and, yeah, come out and see it in a tournament week and just watch it shine and have the attention that it deserves.”
Emma Talley on what golf (the organizations and events) can do more of to draw attention
“I think the fan engagement — obviously we get pro-am day. You get a big fan engagement that day. But I don’t know. Obviously we can’t meet-and-greet before we tee off, but maybe meet-and-greets after we play. It’s a bit different kind of — we’re on the golf course for six, seven hours between the practice and the play, so I don’t know exactly what we need to do, but definitely more fan engagement. I’m open to it, so I can be the woman to start something new.”
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