The air at Erin Hills was deceptively calm as Nelly Korda stepped onto the course for her opening round of the U.S. Women’s Open—a major she’s long wanted to conquer, but never quite has. There was a quiet intensity in her demeanor, the kind that comes from shouldering high expectations. After a blistering 2024 season with six titles, the start of 2025 has been less kind—no wins, despite her stats reading like those of a player at the top of her game. She wasn’t just chasing a title anymore; she was chasing a return to herself.

From the outside, her round on Thursday looked almost clinical. Fairways found. Greens reached. On paper, it was golf played with metronomic rhythm—12 of 14 fairways, 14 of 18 greens in regulation. But those numbers masked a cruel truth: nothing was dropping. Time and again, her approach shots nestled into makable range. Time and again, the putts grazed the edge or slipped past with maddening precision. Korda wasn’t misreading lines or flinching under pressure. She was doing everything right. It just wasn’t enough.

Each missed opportunity added weight. “I was hitting my putts really good. Wherever I was kind of looking, rolling it over my intermediate target, that’s where I was hitting it,” Korda reflected afterward. Not outwardly—Korda never flailed, never sulked. But her pace between shots grew tighter. Then came 18. A par-5 offered one last shot at relief. Korda’s tee shot split the fairway. Her second put her in prime position. Her approach? Pure. This time, finally, the putt dropped. A birdie—not just a score, but a sigh of release after a round that had asked for everything and given nothing in return. Her caddie, Jason McDede, couldn’t hold back.

McDede stepped forward, arms out, ready to celebrate. But Korda, still laser-focused, possibly caught between relief and mental recalibration, missed the cue. She walked right past him. The hug didn’t land. McDede stood there for a beat, arms awkwardly frozen midair, before retreating with a smile. “Jason and I just had a really awkward exchange there where he tried to hug me but I didn’t hug him back,” Korda explained during her post-round interview. 

Lexi Thompson, playing in the same group, witnessed the entire exchange and couldn’t contain her amusement. “It was all just kind of awkward. She saw it, and she was like, I really hope the cameras got that, which I really hope they didn’t. It was just awkward,” Thompson said.

The attempted hug symbolized her caddie’s excitement for any positive momentum, while Korda’s non-response reflected her intense focus on the bigger picture. McDede’s enthusiasm for even the smallest breakthrough speaks to how challenging this winless season has been for the typically dominant world No. 1.

While that birdie and the ensuing awkward moment brought some levity to Korda’s day, it also highlighted the pressure she faces heading into every major championship.

Nelly Korda’s championship chase continues

Korda’s winless streak stands in stark contrast to her incredible 2024 campaign, when she captured six victories before the second major. This season tells a completely different story despite her exceptional statistical performance. She leads the LPGA Tour in strokes gained total (2.45) and ranks first off the tee (1.03), yet the victories remain elusive. Her consistency remains remarkable, with finishes inside the top 25 in all but one start this year, including a runner-up finish at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

The U.S. Women’s Open represents her biggest opportunity to end the victory drought. She enters as one of the betting favorites at 8/1 odds, trailing only Jeeno Thitikul. Erin Hills’ demanding layout should favor her consistent ball-striking, though history suggests this major won’t come easily. She has missed the cut in three of the past five U.S. Women’s Opens, with her best finish being a T8 in 2022 and a disappointing opening-round 80 at Lancaster Country Club last year.

Korda’s current form heading into the weekend shows promise despite Thursday’s even-par start. She ranks ninth in tee-to-green performance and maintains top-15 status in putting statistics. Her recent results include a T5 finish at the Mizuho Americas Open and a T7 finish at the Founders Cup, demonstrating her consistent presence in contention. Whether Korda can transform her impressive statistics into victory remains the week’s biggest question.

Her awkward moment with Jason McDede reminds us that even the world’s best golfers are refreshingly human, and sometimes those unguarded moments matter just as much as the birdies.