On paper, Nelly Korda would appear to be the prototypical player to thrive at the U.S. Women’s Open. The examination put together by the USGA match Korda’s strengths. She hits it long, high and straight, and her best should make her better equipped to outlast the field at the toughest test in golf.
So far, that has not been the case.
In nine career starts as a professional, Korda has missed three cuts and carded just two top-10 finishes, both of which came at two of the easier U.S. Women’s Opens in recent history. Last year, Korda arrived at Lancaster Country Club as the heavy favorite after starting the year on a historic heater that saw her win six times in eight starts, including a major. Her U.S. Women’s Open hopes were dashed by her third hole of the tournament after she made a 10 on the par-3 12th hole. She signed for a first-round 80, which was the same score she shot in the final round of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.
The U.S. Women’s Open has, to this point, battered the No. 1 player in the world, exposing a flaw in her overpowering game.
As GOLF’s Zephyr Melton noted, Korda has not won a tournament, including her two major victories, where she had to buckle down and grind out pars to outlast the field. She has been double digits under par in all but two of her career wins. She won one tournament at 9-under par, and the other was a match-play event.
Skillset is one thing, but Korda has not shown the ability to scratch and claw her way through golf’s most exacting test.
“Lots of ups and downs,” Korda said Tuesday when asked about her relationship with the U.S. Women’s Open. “I mean, it’s the biggest test in the game of golf. Definitely has tested me a lot. I love it.
“At the end of the day, this is why we do what we do is to play these golf courses in these conditions, to test our games in every aspect. Not even just our games, our mental, as well.”
So, as women’s professional golf arrives at Erin Hills this week for the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open, the first question on everyone’s mind is: Will Nelly Korda, the undisputed No. 1 player in the world, finally pass a test she seems born to defeat?
This has been a different kind of season for Korda compared to last year’s blistering tour de force.
She hasn’t won yet. She finished runner-up at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and tied for fifth in her last start at the Mizhuo Americas Open. She has finished inside the top 25 in all but one start this season. She ranks second in the LPGA in total strokes gained (2.40) and off the tee (1.03). The wins haven’t come yet for Korda, but she believes the early part of the season has been a great lesson in patience.
It’s fitting, then, that her greatest lesson of 2025 could wind up being her greatest asset in Erin, Wisconsin.
Korda is well aware of her struggles in the U.S. Women’s Open.
Last year’s quick exit at Lancaster and how it happened certainly remain burned in her mind. As does the 80 at Pebble Beach.
But in a year defined by patience, Nelly Korda sounds like a golfer finally ready to enter the U.S. Women’s Open cauldron and not melt. One who fully understands the lessons of the past, acknowledges her USGA-inflicted scars and is better for them, and can embrace the questions Erin Hills will ask and be the last one standing.
“I think the more you’re put in under-pressure moments and the more you’re in contention, you learn more about yourself and how to handle those situations,” Korda said Tuesday. “Every year, something has tested me, and every year, I learn a little bit more about myself and how to handle myself in some situations. So yeah, I think it’s all about putting yourself into that position.
“But at the end of the day, you’re the one that put yourself there, and you have to be grateful that you are in that spot, and you kind of have to just enjoy even the pressure.”
It would be fair to pass off Korda’s brief introspection as pre-tournament podium talk. But for a golfer who rarely dives deep into her process, this felt like a subtle hint that she has identified her issue. That those years of slip-ups at this event have provided her with the understanding of how to avoid another U.S. Women’s Open flop.
Korda knows that all eyes will be on her Thursday when she goes off with Charley Hull and Lexi Thompson at 1:25 p.m. ET. For all her achievements, Nelly Korda has been unable to be Nelly Korda at women’s golf’s marquee event.
“If you want to feel it, you will feel it,” Korda said of the pressure of being expected to contend and win. “But I think what’s really important is just kind of sticking to your game plan and being really focused on what you’re doing present time, and that’s really helped me.”
Four days in Wisconsin can change everything, and Nelly Korda sounds ready to finally change her U.S. Women’s Open narrative.
