Nelly Korda And Lydia Ko Make Mid-Tournament Equipment Changes At LPGA Tour Opener

Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko both fired five-under-par second rounds of 67 at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, with the pair then revealing overnight equipment changes between Thursday and Friday.

Korda, who enjoyed her best season to date in 2024, had been seen testing out the TaylorMade Qi35 driver at the tail-end of last year, with the American putting it in the bag at the start of this week in Florida.

However, despite hitting 12 of 14 fairways and averaging 268-yards off the tee for her first round on Thursday, Korda was seen using a slightly older TaylorMade Qi10 on Friday, as she hit 10 fairways and averaged 266-yards.

Speaking after her round, Korda explained that: "I played the Qi35 yesterday and went back to my Qi10 today. It was just some things that I need to dial in a little bit more, so just went back to my old trusty.

"I think if you're not confident in one part of your game it kind of leaks to everything else. Not saying that I'm not going to put it (driver) in for the rest of the year, but there is just a couple tweaks that I want to do to it before putting it in to actually play for my whole set to be confident."

Currently, the World No.1 sits in a share of third position at six-under-par, four shots back of leader, A Lim Kim, going into the weekend, with Korda searching for an eighth LPGA Tour title in 12 months.

Along with Korda, World No.2 Lydia Ko also made equipment changes following her first round, with the AIG Women's Open winner changing her putter after an uncharacteristic 31 putts on Thursday.

On Friday, Ko shaved three strokes off her putting, as she produced 28 putts and a five-under-par round of 67. Like Korda, Ko spoke to the media following her second round, stating: "I had a slight equipment change. It was the same putter but a different version of the same putter yesterday.

"I quickly realized that I shouldn't abandon the putter that was so good to me last year, so I brought that back today. Even though I felt like a few more putts could have dropped, I still putted a lot better. All I can do is just put a good stroke on it. That was most improved, so I feel like I'm trending in the right direction not only in the score, but just how my game played out."

The model in question was a Scotty Cameron Prototype, a putter that was used by Ko throughout 2024.

"It was a me problem or something I had created. Technology and like golf equipment is just advancing, and I tried to go to more of a face balanced style putter. Sometimes under pressure your stroke changes, and I was putting really good with the putter that I had used yesterday in my weeks leading up to this.

"I had no doubt that I was going to struggle and see some of the misses that I saw. I think when you are under pressure, and as much as you are still having a good time, it's different playing competitive rounds than just playing a round with some of my friends out here.

"I think the consensus was that sometimes when it's so forgiving or makes it easier, I think it takes the athleticism out a little bit. I know that sometimes I have pulled my putt or pushed it a little bit because of my gut feeling on how this putt is going to break...

"Obviously it's not the putter's fault. It's all the puttees' fault. It's just having a difficult round on the greens to come back to something that I'm familiar with and I know that I've putted well with, was I think a good change for me. But, yeah, it's never the equipment's fault. Last time I checked that putter I used yesterday was a putter I used to get the Player of the Year in 2022. Like clearly the results back up my consensus. It's just I think sometimes like the saying they say if it's not broke why change it. I learned it the hard way yesterday."