Nelly Korda is in familiar territory as she looks for her first win of the 2025 season.

After a 5-under 67 – the second time this week she’s fired that same score – Korda is just three shots back of the lead through 54 holes.

Lauren Coughlin, a two-time winner in 2024 who is also searching for her first win of the year but who comes into the week after finishing runner-up at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards, is tied for the lead with Akie Iwai and Ingrid Lindblad.

Korda had one of the all-time LPGA Tour campaigns in 2025 en route to winning Rolex Player of the Year. Korda had to come from behind a few times to win last year, like at The ANNIKA drive by Gainbridge at Pelican, for example, when she rallied with five birdies in her back nine. She also came from behind to win the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship in the spring.

It was an eventful Saturday for the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1, who started her round going birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey. Korda then made four birdies in a six-hole stretch as she made the turn, including three in a row on Nos. 10 through 12, but she dropped a shot with a bogey on the par-4 13th hole.

Korda birdied 15 before dropping her approach to just nine feet on the par-5 16th hole en route to making eagle.

“I hit a really good drive and had just a 9-iron in hand,” Korda explained. “It was a pretty 98-percenter and just took an aggressive route. When I play my best, I’m an aggressive player. I was feeling good with my irons and took a straight line at the pin.”

Korda had an ill-timed three-putt for bogey on her closing hole of the day but remains a big part of the conversation heading into Sunday’s finale at El Caballero Country Club.

“Kind of on and off,” Korda admitted when asked to sum up her Saturday. “Just (tried) to climb the leaderboard. Trying to be consistent and at the end of the day, give myself the best opportunity going into tomorrow, the final day.”

Korda, who got up to a tie for second at one point in the afternoon, said she tried to keep her strategy simple on Moving Day. Each day is different, and Saturday was a little sunnier than what the field played through the previous three days in California. Korda said she felt like the ball was flying a little further.

Korda is hitting only 62 percent of her fairways so far this week, which is a fairly deep dip from her season-long average. She also sits first in strokes gained off the tee in 2025. Korda said Saturday she was “losing” her driver a bit right on some of the first few holes in both the second and third rounds.

“Going to see if I can get that dialed in,” Korda said. “It’s definitely a little demanding off the tee here with a lot of the bunkers and trees. Once I’m in position, I feel pretty confident with my iron shots”

The stats back that assumption up, as Korda has hit 87 percent of her greens in regulation so far this week, more than her season-long average.

“At the end of the day,” she continued, “you have got to hole the putts.”

That’s exactly what Korda is looking to do on Sunday as she chases down the leaders and her first title of 2025.

“Try to take it a shot at a time. It’s a fresh, new day,” Korda said, “Whatever happened the other day, that’s behind me. You can’t really do anything about it, so why contemplate about it? Just go and try to make birdies and create opportunities.”

Nelly Korda Chasing Leaders and First Win of 2025 at JM Eagle LA Championship

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