Porter’s opening 2-under 70 has her tied for 20th, trailing Korda’s blistering 7-under 65, which has her holding a two-shot lead over Patty Tavatanakit and Somi Lee in the LPGA’s first major of the year.

The 23-year-old Queenslander is the youngest of eight Australians in the field, with Karis Davidson one shot further back, while Hannah Green, Steph Kyriacou and Robyn Choi are tied 60th at 1-over. Minjee Lee sits at 2-over, Grace Kim at 3-over, while Gabi Ruffels endured a tough start with a 6-over 78.

Porter settled any nerves quickly with a birdie on the opening hole and added another at the third to reach 2-under early.

She maintained composure from there, mixing two further birdies with two bogeys to record her best-ever opening round in a major and position herself strongly in just her second start at the Chevron.

The par-5s proved particularly fruitful, yielding three of her birdies on the front nine, before she played the two on the back in regulation.

Korda, the 2024 champion and 18-hole leader, suggested that Thursday’s wet conditions at Memorial Park favoured long hitters and made the par-5s more attackable for those with distance off the tee.

“It’s not rolling out too far in the fairway, so someone who is hitting it longer definitely has an advantage,” Korda said.

“It’s a second-shot golf course, where you’re thinking about misses and the bigger sections of the greens; where you can and can’t be aggressive.

“I like when par-5s are gettable; where you have to hit two really good shots.

“When you make a golf course really short, especially par-5s where everyone is laying it up in the same exact area and at the end of the day it's a wedge contest, to me that's not very exciting.

“The people who hit a really good drive and have the opportunity to go for it should be able to go for it.”

In her rookie LPGA Tour season in 2025, Porter played all four rounds at the Chevron, finishing tied-40th at 3-over, before missing the cut in her next three major starts.

Despite missing the cut at last week’s JM Eagle LA Championship, won by Hannah Green, Porter has enjoyed a strong start to 2026, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Australian Open following a closing 10-under round, and a fifth-place finish at the Fortinet Founders Cup the following week.

Australia’s favourites, World No.5 Green and World No.7 Lee, have work to do with 54 holes remaining.

Green has shown she can erase a deficit quickly, having overturned an eight-shot gap midway through the third round to win in Los Angeles last week for her fourth victory of 2026. Lee, meanwhile, is working her way back to rhythm after a recent illness forced a withdrawal last week.