Nelly Korda fired a 4-under 68 Friday at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro and is firmly in the mix through two rounds as she searches for her first LPGA Tour title in 2025.
But Korda made all the right moves off the course on Friday as her Champions Dinner menu was announced for next week’s Chevron Championship – a beautiful mix of modern gastronomy coupled with some very special connectors to her Czech heritage.
]
[caption id="attachment_2970" align="alignnone" width="612"]
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – APRIL 03: Nelly Korda of the United States plays her shot from the 11th tee during the second round of the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards 2025 at Shadow Creek Golf Course on April 03, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
Korda won last year’s Chevron Championship by two shots over Maja Stark, marking her fifth victory in a row. It was her second major title and came just a year after she finished third at the first major of the year.
The Champions Dinner has long been a special part of the major week, and Korda was thrilled to have the opportunity to put her own twist on the menu with some help from chef Thomas Keller.
Chef Keller, whose cooking has become synonymous with Michelin-star dining, won the Best Chef in America award from the James Beard Foundation in 1997, and his iconic California eatery – the French Laundry – has long been considered one of the best restaurants in the world.
“He was great,” Korda said. “I met him (at) Chevron, and he’s been a great supporter of the LPGA. For him to do this, it’s so special and so cool.”
But, enough with background details. What exactly is Korda serving?
The opening course is caviar – a Chef Keller special – served alongside Bigeye tuna tartare, cucumbers, green apple and dill. Following that is cream of mushroom soup garnished with new crop onions and garden peas. The soup is one of Korda’s favorites.
For the main course, past champions will cut into an American wagyu herb-roasted filet from Snake River Farms in Idaho. That will be served with white asparagus, a yam gratin, glazed mushrooms and a Greek salad.
“I’m very happy with the menu. Chef Keller was great,” Korda said.
The dessert is the course most inspired by Korda’s Czech background, as she is serving Ovocné knedlíky, which is essentially a dumpling with berries and vanilla anglaise – a silky, pourable sauce. That sounds tremendous, of course, but it’s nothing compared to what Korda’s grandmother has made for her birthday.
“Whenever I’m back in Czech, I’m usually there around my birthday. If I do celebrate, that’s my birthday cake. And I just love fruit-filled dumplings,” Korda explained. “It’s something that I grew up eating, and I really, really love it. My grandma makes it (and) that’s the best one I’ve ever had.”
That is next week, however, and Korda still has some golf to play over the weekend at El Caballero Country Club.
She sits just four shots back of co-leaders Ashleigh Buhai and Ingrid Lindblad. The latter fired a 9-under 63, which is tied for the lowest score of the week so far, after making an incredible 10 birdies, the most the Epson Tour graduate had ever made in one round.
Korda had her fair share of birdies as well on Friday and rebounded well from a tough start. She made a double bogey on the par-4 4th hole and made bogey on the very next hole. Korda would go on to birdie six of her next 10 holes, however, to get into a fine scoring spot.
“I started off the day really well and then, in the middle of the front nine, just had a little bit of a hiccup with a silly double and a bogey to back it up,” Korda said. “Fought my way back to even through nine and played some solid golf on the back nine.”
Korda does have a little ground to make up over the next two days, and it remains to be seen what her final position will be this week at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. Regardless of that, though, one thing is guaranteed – she sure knows how to pick a menu.
