At KPMG Girls’s PGA, there’s brutal, unavoidable problem

FRISCO, Texas — World No. 1 Nelly Korda entered the participant interview space on Thursday after the opening spherical of the 2025 KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco and wanted a second earlier than recalling her even-par 72.

After just below six hours within the North Texas warmth, Korda was nonetheless attempting to recalibrate. Ninety-three levels with 69 p.c humidity will try this.

“It’s scorching,” Korda stated. “I’m nonetheless cooling down proper now. Total, I imply, even par to begin the key, I imply, it was windier than I assumed it could be. So performed slightly harder. I’m fairly proud of my first spherical within the situations. It was fairly windy. It was scorching. It undoubtedly takes a toll on you, the Texas warmth.”

Korda and her enjoying companions Jeeno Thitikul and Lydia Ko slogged by way of a three-hour entrance 9 on Thursday that included a prolonged wait on the tee field on the par-3 eighth. When the tremendous trio exited the seventh inexperienced, the group in entrance of them had but to tee off on No. 8. Korda, who made two birdies and two bogeys within the opening spherical, opened her umbrella and sat down as she tried to remain even-keeled.

Main championships are all about staying affected person and sustaining your focus. Having close to triple-digit temperatures beating down on you makes that activity even tougher.

For Korda, who can be nursing a neck ailment that she aggravated whereas hitting a ball out of the tough on Monday, Thursday’s opening spherical was the quintessential main championship grind. She picked up over two photographs off the tee, however her iron recreation gave her only a few alternatives to maintain tempo with Thitikul, who made 199 toes of putts whereas taking pictures a four-under 68 to take the 18-hole lead.

Along with her neck enhancing by the day, Korda left Spherical 1’s warmth field happy along with her place and the way she navigated the Texas situations on a course that guarantees to get firmer and quicker because the wind whips and the solar roasts the Gil Hanse course.

“You possibly can undoubtedly lose a event. You possibly can’t win it on the primary day,” Korda stated. “I felt strong. I used to be hitting it nicely off the tee into the greens, and simply didn’t actually give myself too many nice appears to be like. However I performed fairly strong, I believe, for the primary day of a significant.”

Korda, Thitikul and Ko will commerce a morning tee time for the even hotter afternoon wave on Friday. Temperatures in Frisco, Texas, are projected to succeed in 97 levels on Friday and maintain regular over the weekend.

How gamers deal with the Texas warmth, one thing they’ll’t escape, will go a protracted method to deciding who conquers Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco and who wilts within the cauldron.

“I undoubtedly suppose it’s going to be a problem,” Angel Yin, who shot one beneath on Thursday, stated of the warmth. “It’s going to be good golf-wise as a result of the ball will fly additional and make the course slightly bit shorter. I like enjoying on quicker greens, so I’m going to love that. After which, yeah, it’s going to be balancing hydration and conserving focus.”

After making seven birdies in Spherical 1, Minjee Lee entered the air-conditioned interview space and couldn’t assist however snort.

“Man, I’m glistening,” Lee, who shot three beneath, stated as she stepped to the rostrum.

One other member of the morning wave, Lee’s scorching putter negated a shaky driving day that noticed her lose 0.251 photographs off the tee in Spherical 1. The poor driving brought about Lee to stumble with a handful of “smooth bogeys,” which stored her from matching or overtaking Thitikul in Spherical 1.

A two-time main champion, Lee preached the significance of endurance. That’s a activity that turns into infinitely harder the longer you stand beneath the Texas solar.

“Can’t get forward of your self, particularly in this sort of climate,’ Lee stated. “I believe it’s extra simply the warmth that’s draining your focus, so it’s going to be an enormous issue come the following few days.”

The warmth and stress will solely intensify because the weekend nears right here at PGA Frisco. Whoever can deal with each would be the one who leaves North Texas as a significant champion.