As the defending champion of the Chevron Championship, Nelly Korda had the honor of hosting the pre-tournament champions dinner for past winners, with the added benefit of superstar chef Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame handling the menu.
With a nod toward her parents’ Czechoslovakian roots, Korda collaborated with Keller on the menu and, as expected, the evening turned out to be a great success.
“Getting to work with Thomas Keller was a dream come true, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Korda said.
The menu included tuna tartare with cucumber, dill and green apple as well as Regiis Ova hybrid caviar, which sells for more than $120 per serving.
There was cream of mushroom soup followed by herb-roasted filet of American Wagyu beef along with various vegetables.
Dessert was a Czech-themed dish of dumplings and berries.
“I definitely wanted to bring in my heritage with the dessert,” Korda said. “So proud to be an American but also super, super proud of my roots.”
In the same way the Masters Champions Dinner is about the people in the room, Korda reveled in being with many of the LPGA’s best players through the years. She shared a table with Juli Inkster, Lilia Vu and Lexi Thompson, among others.
“It’s such a great group because you get all the past champions, first winner of this tournament coming in, and then you have Amy Alcott who started the tradition of jumping into the pond,” Korda said.
“So you get everyone in a group which you never get; it’s just such a fun setting.”
Yan Liu scored the rarest of birds on Friday at the Chevron Championship, an albatross on the par-5 eighth hole at the Club at Carlton Woods.
The 27-year-old Chinese player, in her third LPGA season, holed a 175-yard 7-iron on the 505-yard par-5 hole. The deuce offset three front-nine bogeys in a round of 72 that kept her atop the leaderboard after an opening 65.
“I saw the ball … go in, so that’s [a] really cool thing,” said Liu, who finished tied for ninth after weekend rounds of 72-75. “But I think they don’t have video for that hole. Little sad.”
Carla Bernat Escuder is still adjusting to the celebrity and opportunities that have come with her recent victory in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
The Chevron Championship was Escuder’s first LPGA event. She earned an invitation to the season’s first major by virtue of her win at Augusta National Golf Club, one of four majors she will now play this year.
I think this is the third week in a row without going to class. I went last Friday and I was like, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Carla Bernat Escuder
A student at Kansas State, Escuder admitted schoolwork has been lost in the shuffle since Augusta.
“My professors, I need to say sorry to them. I completely forgot the classes that I’m doing. I think this is the third week in a row without going to class. I went last Friday and I was like, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.
“It’s been a little stressful I need to say, but it’s good stress if that makes sense. It’s everything positive.”
Escuder said she has been surprised that people have recognized her in airports and some have shown her photographs from her victory.
She’s still coming to grips with some of the messages she received following her win, most notably from tennis great Rafael Nadal.
“He’s the symbol of competition and that motivation that every athlete in Spain has,” Escuder said. “When I saw that, I was just like, whoa, yeah.”
Escuder was one of eight top amateurs who received invitations to compete in the Chevron Championship, continuing a tournament tradition of amateur participation.
The others were Asterisk Talley, the runner-up to Escuder at Augusta National; Lottie Woad, the World Amateur Golf Ranking No. 1 and 2024 ANWA winner; Clarisa Temelo, the reigning Women’s Amateur Latin America champion; Jeneath Wong, the current Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific champion; Chayse Gomez; Jasmine Koo; and Gianna Clemente.
Of the eight invitees, only 17-year-old Clemente made the cut and by doing so earned low-amateur honors and her third point in the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway standings. LEAP is a new LPGA program that gives high-level amateur players an opportunity to earn tour membership by accruing points for their performances in amateur and professional tournaments. They can also accrue points by earning notable amateur honors. Twenty points are required to earn LPGA membership.
One thing that sets the Chevron Championship apart is the fact that all players who miss the cut receive a $10,000 stipend to cover expenses for the week. It’s the highest missed-cut stipend on the LPGA Tour.
Staff reports