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CHASKA, Minn. — With sincere apologies to 155 players in the field at this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, one storyline looms above all the others.

You can blame Nelly Korda for that.

Korda has already won the first two majors of 2026 — the Chevron Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open — and she’s now attempting to win a third straight.

With a victory this week, she’d be just the third player to win the first three majors of the season (and first since Inbee Park in 2013). But just as importantly, she’d clinch her spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame. The LPGA has a unique points system to gain entry into its hall — no vote necessary — and a major win this week would be worth two points, which would be enough to give Korda the 27 necessary.

Nelly Korda, as a reminder, is still just 27 years old.

“I think I have a very in-the-moment mindset this year, which I’m just trying to take towards the end of the year,” Korda said Wednesday. “No matter what happens, I’ve just told myself if I am lifting the trophy — like, that is obviously the main goal at the end the week — I’m going to prepare or focus on my preparation and know that I’m 100 percent confident in it and lean on that.”

Korda’s been fantastic this season, much like she was two years ago, when she won seven times. Last year she never missed a cut and had nine top-10 finishes but failed to win. This year? She’s back to lifting trophies.

In her first eight starts of the season, she won four times and was the runner-up three times. She also tied for 8th once. Her worst start of the year came two weeks ago, when she played the Dow Championship, a team event, with friend Olivia Cowan and tied for 17th.

Korda leads the LPGA in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and Off the Tee. She’s second in SG: Approach and third in SG: Around the Greens. Even putting she’s 22nd.

And perhaps most importantly, she’s entering this week refreshed. She was tired and didn’t sleep well at the Dow, and she left Michigan for NYC for her delayed U.S. Women’s Open media tour after the tournament Sunday night. She spent that Monday in NYC, made an appearance on the “Today” show, stopped at the New York Stock Exchange and took a late flight home to Florida. She took Tuesday off and returned to practice on Wednesday. She landed in Minnesota on Sunday, played nine Monday, 18 Tuesday and the front nine Wednesday.

Then she met with the media to talk about what it’s like dealing with this kind of pressure. One thing may help: if she’s not aware of what’s at stake, what is there to worry about? Korda admitted Wednesday she had no idea how many points are needed to enter the Hall of Fame (27) or how many she even has (25).

That’s by design.

“I kind of like to be oblivious about it in that way,” said Korda, who begins her first round at 9:17 a.m. ET on Thursday. “I know a lot about the stuff that I want to know about, but this, I don’t want to put extra pressure on myself. I feel like the game of golf is already hard enough. If I add more pressure on myself then it’s going to be even harder. I think it’s an amazing accomplishment and it would be one of the best achievements of my career, for sure.”

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When Nelly Korda’s testy, 2-foot-10-inch putt slid into the hole at Riviera Country Club on Sunday, she not only achieved a lifelong dream by winning the U.S. Women’s Open but also delivered the LPGA the breakthrough moment it has needed.

Now comes the hard part.

Back in November, new LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler sat at the dais in Naples at the CME Group Tour Championship and fielded questions from reporters about his plan to elevate women’s golf in the same way that the WNBA, NWSL and other women’s sports have exploded in recent years. Kessler showed he had a vision and ways to get the wheels turning. A new T.V. deal arrived that week, putting every LPGA round on live T.V. and promising an enhanced broadcast. He brought in Aramco to sponsor a big-money event in Las Vegas, talked about reworking the schedule and moved the Chevron Championship to Memorial Park. The plan to grab and keep attention was clear.

Kessler didn’t have all the answers that week. And the biggest question concerned something he had no control over. It seemed unanswerable at the time, but it was clear it would eventually determine how successful his plan would be and the pace at which it would deliver results: Could the LPGA break through to a larger audience with depth and parity? Or would it need a star to transcend the game and reach a wider audience?

“No silver bullets to creating stars,” Kessler said that week.

“You have the best players, you have the most marketable players, and you have the ones who are actually willing to lean in and do the work. It’s the handful of players at the center of that Venn diagram that we are going to invest our resources against in order to create global superstars and create that player and fan connection.”

That Kessler faced these questions the week after Caitlin Clark, who lit the fuse for the WNBA’s explosion, played in the pro-am for the Annika was purely coincidental but it was a sign of what the LPGA likely needed to achieve the growth it desires and the women’s game deserves: a superstar who grabs eyeballs by winning, winning a lot and doing it in a way that demands attention.

The most likely candidate to do this was, of course, Nelly Korda; even her contemporaries noted how vital a resurgent Korda, who went winless in 2025, could be to the league’s popularity, especially in America. The depth and parity are great for the global health of women’s golf. But for American fans and American television audiences, especially those who aren’t golf diehards, stars sell.

“As a tour and even from a fan perspective, yes, it’s great to have somebody like Nelly that was so dominant last year,” Hall of Famer Lydia Ko said in November. “Catches a lot of attention, especially with her — in Nelly’s case, being an American player. That catches a lot of different attention. In the case of even if you don’t play golf, you know who Tiger Woods is. Like having that kind of a figure is, yes, very important.”

Seven months later, Nelly Korda has delivered on her part.

She snapped her winless drought with a 54-hole, weather-shortened win at the Tournament of Champions and then went 2-2-T2 before running away with the year’s first major. She followed that with a win in Mexico, then arrived at the U.S. Women’s Open, the women’s game’s marquee event, held at a world-renowned venue, and won when everyone expected her to and wanted her to.

She has now won the year’s first two majors and should head into the KPMG PGA Championship at the end of the month with a world of hype surrounding her. A win at the Evian or the AIG Women’s Open later this summer will give her the LPGA’s career Grand Slam (four out of five). If she wins both, she’ll be a Super Slam winner, or she’ll have what Ko and others call the real Grand Slam.

News

Nelly Korda's emotional U.S. Women's Open win was years in the making

By: Josh Schrock

Nelly Korda winning the biggest prize in women’s golf, the tournament she has long craved and seemed born to win, and doing so in dramatic fashion on a famed course is a moment for women’s golf. Per NBC, Korda’s U.S. Women’s Open win had an average of 1.3 million viewers on Sunday, peaking at 2.2 million when her final putt narrowly lipped in. That’s the second-highest-rated U.S. Women’s Open since Michelle Wie’s 2014 win at Pinehurst No. 2 (2 million). Only Allisen Corpuz’s win at Pebble Beach in 2023 (1.6 million) has had more average Sunday viewers.

Stars and venues are the LPGA’s ticket to the dance that has been the women’s sports boom of the past few years. Nelly Korda is a superstar and has been for some time. She first reached World No. 1 status five years ago, has a gold medal, now has four majors and is two points away from the Hall of Fame. She should already be a star far outside the world of golf. That she hasn’t already reached the level of Clark, A’ja Wilson, Simone Biles and others speaks to the issues within the LPGA that predate Kessler and the new brain trust — ones they are trying to remedy.

Nelly Korda is a once-in-a-generation American talent, armed with a picture-perfect swing and a charismatic personality that is coming out more and more. She’s winning everything in sight right now and just had a monumental win on a course people know well.

Now it’s up to the LPGA to make the most of the opportunity Nelly Korda’s world-beating golf has created. There should be a full-sell hype machine around Korda over the next few weeks in the lead-up to the KPMG and it should continue into the summer. Putting her on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, the second time she has joined this year, is the type of move that’s needed to help introduce her to a larger, non-golf-centric audience that the LPGA is hunting.

Back in November, Kessler was adamant the LPGA didn’t want to put everything on one player or personality to push the game and league higher. “If we are reliant on one person, whether it’s a star or a celebrity, to carry the weight of the Tour on their backs, I think we’ve missed the boat,” Kessler said. “There’s so much magic happening on the LPGA and we have to bring all of it to life.”

That’s a long-term, big-picture view that’s reasonable and measured. The LPGA is indeed littered with great stories and talented, charismatic athletes like Charley Hull, Ko, Rose Zhang, and potential budding stars in Megha Ganne (who just turned pro) and amateurs Asterisk Talley and Kiara Romero. But as Ko noted, “everyone knows Tiger Woods.” Just like everyone knows Caitlin Clark, Michael Jordan, and many others who have elevated their sport and brought new fans into the picture by being a gateway to it.

Nelly Korda can do the same as long as women’s golf and the LPGA make the most of what her 2-foot, 10-inch putt delivered on Sunday.

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When major championships conclude, time slows down for the winner. As family and friends tear onto the 18th green for hugs, photos and a trophy presentation, pressure and plans melt away. 

For the runners-up, though, time can speed up. 

From the moment Nelly Korda’s putt circled the cup on Riviera’s 18th green and fell in, less than five minutes passed before Gaby Lopez was seated at the media-center podium, taking questions from just two reporters about her second-place finish. Her co-runner-up, Charley Hull, sat at the back of the room, anxiously playing on her phone, ready to leave the property. Did she have to stick around to accept the second-place medal? That’s what her team wondered aloud.

Lopez and Hull exhibited very different dispositions. Hull was frustrated. All that for second? Lopez was ecstatic. 

“I feel amazing,” she said. “I’m not disappointed at all.”

Lopez had never been this close, and it showed. Hull now has five major runners-up; on Instagram she called herself a “bridesmaid again.” 

It was a fascinating juxtaposition but witnessed by few. Our collective gaze was fixed on Team Korda’s photoshoot on the 18th green. Hull is 30 and Lopez is 32, and the whole golf world expects the former to win a major before the latter — everyone, that is, but Lopez herself, who seemingly is in hot pursuit of a major and nothing else.

She’s consulted her countrywoman, two-time major winner Lorena Ochoa, for advice on how to win the game’s biggest events. She’s removed customary starts from her summer schedule, partly because of grass types. If the next major is on bentgrass, she doesn’t want to prepare on poa. In the interim, whenever Lopez’s competitive juices urge her to play more, her physio shuts her down. 

“Right now, let’s be smart,” that trainer, Aaron Bond, told Lopez this year. “Let’s be focused on what you want to achieve. At the end of the day, let’s put yourself in a position that you can have a shot on the back nine on Sunday.” 

It may be clichéd framing, but at Riviera it worked, right up until the 70th hole of the championship, anyway. On the 16th green, Korda had 21 feet for birdie, on a similar line to Lopez, who had 28 feet. Korda took two swipes to get her ball in the hole; Lopez needed three. 

That U.S. Open-deciding bogey would keep most players up at night. But Lopez, who has three more bites at the major apple this season, sees only positives. 

“There’s not one thing that I regret,” she said. “I’m happy. I’m proud … We just have to be a little tighter in a couple weeks and hopefully one day it’s our chance.”

3 things I’m thinking

1. New beginnings? On the topic of Riv, I heard a rumor that its famous 1st tee may not be the 1st tee at the Olympics in two years. The problem? It’s so close to the clubhouse that it creates difficult flow for spectators and doesn’t allow for any grandstands behind it. If this happens, I’d like to propose the 3rd tee as an alternate option. 

2. Doonbeg or bust. President Trump’s attendance at this week’s NBA Finals game in New York was a reminder that I’ve been told he intends on attending the DP World Tour’s Irish Open at his Doonbeg course this fall. His schedule could change, of course, but Trump loves seeing his courses host the pros. Doing so in another country would make for a much bigger spectacle. 

3. Nelly knows no bounds. Korda confirmed at Riv what we knew a week ago: She is playing the best golf of her life. DataGolf’s advanced analytics rank her 2026 performance as a full shot better, on average, than her 2024 season, when she won five times in six starts. Just like Scottie Scheffler, Korda somehow keeps raising the bar. 

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PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — You and I will never know how it feels to contend in a U.S. Open; to look up at a leaderboard to see our last name with a “1” next to it. Solo leader. 

Charley Hull knows how it feels, of course, but Charley is Charley. You never know what she’s going to think, what she’s going to say, what she’s going to do. She is fantastically unpredictable. So just steps off the 11th green, right after grabbing the solo lead for the first time all week, why wouldn’t she stop, mid-round, to sign a couple autographs? And moments later, when she saw her name atop the leaderboard, why didn’t eight under feel like enough on a windy day at the U.S. Open? Charley is Charley. She wanted to get to 10. 

It doesn’t really matter that 10 under wasn’t in the cards, for Hull or anyone else. Or that the score she had at the time would have been plenty for a playoff. That’s not how she plays golf. 

“If you always aim super, super high and you just come short, you’re still going to do really well, if you get what I mean,” Hull reasoned aloud Sunday night, maybe three hours after signing those flags while holding the solo lead.

“Like big expectations,” she continued. “If I’d have thought, ‘Oh, seven [under] is going to win,’ I’d probably finish five [under]. Do you get what I’m trying to say?” 

Oh, we get it. The logic in there says a lot about Hull — how she plays this sport and how she lives her life. But it’s all a major reason why we tune in for it. She is, as the kids say, all gas, no brakes. Rope-hooks and recoils. She gets a bounce in her step when putts go in. She frowns at the hole when they don’t. On a tour where it can be difficult to find a fist pump, Hull’s bravado isn’t just welcomed — it’s sorely needed. Her Saturday mentality was two words long: “F—k it” — aiming at every flag with reckless aggression. And Sunday?

“Today was ‘F—k it’, pretty much,” she said. “Just go for it, you know what I mean?” 

In that English Midlands accent, she rips through those five words.Youknowwhatimean?

Hull admitted that the opening rounds of a tournament make her feel caged in, when the course is littered in threesomes and you’re supposed to be patient. But she busts out on the weekend, when there’s room to run and leaders to chase. 

“I love playing golf like that,” she said.

And Charley, we love watching it. 

At 30 years old, Hull’s stature in the game outweighs her victories. Her record is modest — three wins on the LPGA Tour, five in Europe, zero majors — but her way of being is captivating. You have to watch. When she hits a tee shot she likes, she barely watches it. It’s a race with no one to scoop her tee fast as possible. She struggles to find motivation in non-major weeks — when the stakes aren’t so great — an admission that will no doubt be tossed back at her until she wins one. But that’s the treat of Charley in contention. She tells you everything. Like three years ago, when she finished second at Pebble Beach and, instead of ‘F—k it’, had an even better north star: Shy girls don’t get sweets. 

If anything, Hull is an epic counterbalance to the person who pipped her Sunday. When Nelly Korda says ‘F—k’ it’s only in a hushed voice after a bad drive. Hull says it gleefully in front of a mic. Korda is careful about how much golf she plays. Hull left Riviera for a three-day golf trip with her boyfriend. Korda was raised by two pro athletes and attended the IMG Academy, where pro careers are groomed. Hull quit school at 13 and turned pro at 16. Korda’s father, Petr, is very present, often hovering nervously in the crowd. Hull’s family doesn’t travel the world with her. Rather, it was just her cousin, Jodie, as her on-site kin this week, and the one who begged Charley to take her to Malibu. This being her first trip to Los Angeles, Jodie wanted to see if Malibu was just the way Hollywood portrayed it — beach bods and all. The way Charley retold the story created headlines, because of course it did. 

On Saturday night, their sidequest required braving the traffic of Sunset Boulevard to have B-level Mexican food at a restaurant up on a hill with an A-plus view of the city. It was fully worth the journey, Jodie said. But about 24 hours later, the good vibes changed. Once Charley signed for a week-long tally of seven under, they watched the final groups finish out on a television in a back room of the clubhouse, hearing the tepid roar of Korda’s winning putt before it played out on the screen.  

“It’s just,” cousin Jodie began, “you feel sick.”

That’s five second-place finishes for Hull in the majors, zero firsts. Charley called it frustrating and annoying, but has no plans to change her tantalizing approach. If anything, she said she may engage ‘F it’ mode even earlier next time. Her next chance to do it, and our next chance to revel in it, is just three weeks away.

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As Nelly Korda stared down a 9-foot-2-inch putt on the 71st hole of the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera on Sunday, she knew exactly what was at stake: the grandest title in the women’s game and one that had eluded her in 11 previous attempts. Hole the putt for a birdie 4 and Korda would take a one-shot lead into the home hole; miss and . . . well, she’d need to make par on Riv’s brutish par-4 18th just for a spot in a playoff. “I knew that I needed to make it,” Korda said later.

She also knew the putt would move quickly and hard from left to right. Leaning on a tactic she’d been employing all week, Korda picked an immediate target between her ball and the hole, locked in on that spot and coolly jarred the birdie — moving her to two under for her round and eight under for the tournament, one clear of clubhouse co-leaders Charley Hull and Gaby Lopez. Later, in her winner’s press conference, Korda said, “That putt is the reason why I’m here.”

Really, though, every one of Korda’s other 68 shots on Sunday mattered just as much, including all four of the swipes that came after her clutch 4 at 17: her smashed tee shot on 18 that left her just 145 yards into the green; her smooth approach to the fat of the green that left her 35 feet from glory; and, from there, her solid lag putt that all but sealed the deal when it petered out just 2 feet 10 inches from the hole. Thirty-four inches. A kick-in. A formality. A gimme, if only there were such a thing in the professional game.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Korda, who is 27, is flawless, this year especially. Her graceful swing, which deserves its own wing at the Met, is one thing. But her stats are even more awe-inspiring: In eight starts in 2026, Korda has now won four times (including two major titles) and finished runner-up on three other occasions; she is gaining more than 4 strokes per round on her “competition”; and her 68.26 scoring average is a stunning 1.15 shots clear of her closet rival. If this LPGA season were a boxing match, the referee would have called it weeks ago.    

And yet no golfer is perfect. Not Babe. Not Hogan. Not Jack. Not Annika. Not Tiger. Not Nelly Korda. Her humanness surfaces on the greens, often over short putts in nervy moments. In March, at the Fortinet Founders Cup, Korda’s hopes of victory were spoiled when she missed a two-and-a-half footer on the 71st hole. “Stupid mistake,” she said after the round. Missed shorties also cost her dearly at the 2021 AIG Women’s Open and at the 2023 Chevron Championship. Korda’s short-putt shakiness was evident even at this year’s Chevon, which she won by five. Korda’s victory could have been even more dominant if not for three missed 4-footers over her last 11 holes. “I want to show kids at home that it’s okay to miss shorts putts and still win a major championship,” Korda said afterward. “You’re gonna do it. You’re gonna make mistakes but you have to mentally still be in it 100%.”

Not all 34-inchers are created equal, and the one Korda left herself on Riviera’s 18th green on Sunday — with thousands of fans and the ghost of Hogan peering down on her from the natural amphitheater above — fell somewhere between a tickler and a terrorizer. “I had to honestly a couple times tell myself, okay, stay in the moment, because I was dreaming of hoisting the trophy a little too early,” Korda said. “I kept reverting back; I’m like the job’s not done.”

Her final task: a delicate left-to-righter, wind off her left, golf history in the balance.  

“I was like, good lord,” Korda said. “Pretty much, like, why did I leave myself such a long putt to make par?”

As Korda addressed her putt, she couldn’t feel her hands. Further complicating matters, her ball sat in the long shadow of her right leg. Also between her putterhead and the hole was the shadow of her left leg — insignificant distractions under most circumstances but . . . yeah, not optimal given the weight of the moment. Korda said she had one stroke thought, and it wasn’t a positive one.    

“I knew that I didn’t want to miss it right,” she said.

So she played prevent defense. 

News

Nelly Korda nearly yanked 3-footer for U.S. Open glory. Here's what happened

By: Alan Bastable

“Maybe had aimed a little bit too far left and pulled it,” she said. “I mean, your heart rate is going.”

Same was true for anyone watching from home. 

The ball came off Korda’s blade left and stayed left. Inches from the hole, it looked like she’d pulled it. An inch from the hole, it was clear she had pulled it. Mercifully, the ball grabbed the hole’s edge and horseshoed around it like a skateboarder peeling around a swimming pool. Korda’s Titleist didn’t quite complete a 360 but it came close before finally disappearing. The new champion raised her right hand to her mouth, the international sign for OMG.    

“She thought she’d missed it,” NBC analyst Morgan Pressel said on the telecast. 

Korda hadn’t. Instead, she’d made history, becoming the youngest four-time major winner in the women’s game since Mickey Wright (25) in 1960.  

“I don’t know if a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders,” Korda said. “But I just think I’m just extremely proud of my fight this week and the dream of that little girl that you kind of get to check that off your bucket list.”

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Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, our writers unpack everything from Nelly Korda’s U.S. Women’s Open win at Riviera.

1. Nelly Korda continued her dominant 2026, winning the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera for her fourth win of the season, fourth major title and, most importantly, first U.S. Women’s Open title. What did you learn about Nelly as she outlasted the field during a thrilling Sunday in LA?

Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): She’s continuing to do what is one of the hardest things to do in any sport, which is to win when everyone expects you to win. She’s now finished first or second in seven of her eight starts this season and has kept one really fun storyline — the season-long grand slam — alive for another few weeks. It’s just really impressive how she continued to plug along Sunday, kept hitting fairways and didn’t make any mistakes. That puts a ton of pressure on the people playing around you, as they know they have to make a move because it’s unlikely Nelly Korda will mess up. And it’s really difficult to make a lot of birdies in U.S. Opens.

Nick Piastowski, senior editor (@nickpia): I guess this isn’t “learned,” but maybe more confirmed — that she’s willing to reassess. In her press conference on Saturday night, Korda talked about a recent “mindset shift,” saying that “instead of saying, you know, I’m screwed in this position, oh, here we go again, I’m just going to embrace the challenges and I’m not going to walk off the golf course; I’m just going to figure it out.” It’s maybe a smaller thing, but clearly something has clicked, and the fact that she did the work here is impressive. 

Josh Schrock, associate news editor (@Schrock_And_Awe): I don’t know if I learned anything new about Nelly Korda, but watching her navigate what was undoubtedly the scariest round of her life on Sunday showed me that she is exactly who a lot of us thought and hoped she’d be. Her talent was always undeniable, but winning Chevrons and KPMGs is different than winning a U.S. Women’s Open on a course like Riviera. Everything always pointed to this being her destiny, but even she admitted she had doubts it would ever arrive. There’s something rewarding about watching someone reach their destiny, and now we get to find out where it leads her.

2. Charley Hull put together a record-breaking weekend at Riviera, Gaby Lopez got hot late on Sunday and In Gee Chun hung around to keep the pressure on the contenders. What played a bigger part in making this one of the most memorable U.S. Women’s Opens in years: Some of the game’s biggest stars fighting down the stretch, or the famous stage that hosted the event? And how can women’s professional golf replicate it?

Berhow: You can have one and not the other and still produce good golf tournaments, but when they both come together it makes it must-watch TV, which is the goal for every major golf tournament. Korda and Hull are arguably the two most famous players in the women’s game, and I love how different they are. Charley is twitchy and aggressive with that fast-swing tempo while Nelly is just so smooth and methodical. It’s a great, friendly rivalry if we could see them atop leaderboards together more often, but what I really enjoyed was seeing how the women played Riviera versus what we see when the PGA Tour stops there. It’s a fabulous private course, but viewers at home can relate to it and appreciate it much better watching how the women play it.

Piastowski: I think they work hand in hand — great courses bring out great play, and subpar courses, well, you know the rest. This week also “felt” big, didn’t it? Prime time! L.A.! Riv! There’s history there. There are challenges. Hell, places like Riv just look cool. And when given a proper spotlight, more folks care — though we do have to talk about how the broadcast was just three hours on Sunday. I think this is the LPGA’s next step — secure more regular-season events at big-name courses. And yes, the majors should continue the recent trend of doing that. And, yes, somehow, someway, the women should be playing at Augusta National. 

Schrock: You need both, but I think Michelle Wie West nailed it pre-tourney when talking about the importance of the women playing the same courses as the men. It adds context and elevates everything. What really works is when we have the same venue host the men’s and women’s U.S. Open in the same year, like when Wie won at Pinehurst in 2014 after Martin Kaymer did. It’s incredibly important for the women to get to create their own moments on iconic holes and at golf’s cathedrals. The cream also tends to rise to the top at the cathedrals as it did this week and at St. Andrews in 2024. Venues matter. 

3. What’s your final takeaway from U.S. Women’s Open week?

Berhow: Nelly is really good and will dominate the conversation later this month at the KPMG Women’s PGA — as she tries to make it three in a row — but another storyline is starting to emerge as well: Charley Hull now has five runner-up major finishes without a win. Her last three: T2, T10, T2. She’s gotta break through at some point.

Schrock: We’re entering the summer of Nelly. She’ll dominate KPMG week but also will arrive at the Evian with a chance to win the LPGA Grand Slam (four of five) and also have a chance to do so at the AIG Women’s Open. If she wins both, she gets what Lydia Ko, and other ball knowers, would call the real career Grand Slam. And she’s about to kick down the door to the Hall of Fame. It’s all Nelly, but the biggest question is: Can the LPGA capitalize on a moment that feels much bigger than Nelly’s run in 2024?

Piastowski: That we’re watching a historic run. And, as Schrock said, above, the LPGA powers-that-be must capitalize on it. 

4. With the Saudi PIF no longer funding LIV Golf beyond this season, the league is in search of investors. A couple of weeks ago, Bryson DeChambeau said he’s “giving all I can to make it happen” in terms of potential investments but admitted his role as a player might be limited. Meanwhile, Jon Rahm said this past week he knows little about the business side of things and his “job is to play golf.” Should LIV’s stars feel obligated to help keep LIV afloat? Do they hold much power?

Berhow: Noooo. I mean, yes, if they have wealthy investors in their Rolodex, sure, reach out to them. But Rahm should not be scrutinized for his comments — he’s right. His job is to play. I’m sure promises were made to him when he joined the league, and I would assume one was never to help them find future funding in a few years. That’s why they pay the execs the big bucks.

Schrock: No. If you really, really want to help keep the league alive because you believe in team golf or want some place to play that isn’t the PGA Tour, then by all means, go for it. But I think Rahm has the right idea. Play golf and see what happens when the dust settles.

Piastowski: Maybe. If DeChambeau and Rahm tell whomever that they’ll be playing LIV Golf for the next decade and that they’ll work on bringing in other stars in, that’s a pretty good pitch. But yes, at the end of the day, the product is golf, so the golfers should play compelling golf. 

5. We had all sorts of good golf over the weekend (in Spain, California, Ohio and elsewhere), but who won the weekend without winning on Sunday?

Berhow: Hmmmm. J.T. Poston, Memorial winner, can now skip U.S. Open Final Qualifying on Monday so he has to be psyched, but that doesn’t answer the question. How about Kiara Romero? A 20-year-old amateur just tied for sixth at the biggest professional women’s golf tournament on the planet. That’s pretty good! (Oh, and honorable mention: Maria José Marin, another amateur, tied for 8th.)

Schrock: Four amateurs — Romero, Marin, Asterisk Talley and Aphrodite Deng — all acquitted themselves well at Riviera. Talley made U.S. Women’s Open history with her Saturday 66, and Romero took home low-am honors (Go Ducks!). The future of women’s golf is in great hands.

Piastowski: We all did, right? What a weekend. Here’s your pass to take off on Monday.

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The post Nelly Korda’s emotional U.S. Women’s Open win was years in the making appeared first on Golf.

The moment Nelly Korda had worked for her entire life finally arrived on Sunday as the sun started to set over Riviera Country Club. Countless hours of work when no one was watching — the early mornings, exhausting range sessions, numerous triumphs and last year’s heartbreak at Erin Hills — all led Nelly Korda to the edge of her destiny.

All that was left between her and a U.S. Women’s Open title at a historic venue was 2 feet, 10 inches. Such a small distance can feel vast when it’s all that’s standing between you and one of your heart’s deepest desires. The fear of having everything you ever wanted only to let it slip at the last moment can be crippling. From Dustin Johnson to Rory McIlroy, major championship golf history is filled with legends who missed putts they had made thousands of times when the weight of the world was in their hands.

After 71 holes at Riviera, Nelly Korda sat atop the leaderboard by one stroke. She unleashed a 288-yard drive with 158 mph ball speed down the center of the iconic 18th fairway, hit her approach to 35 feet and left herself with 34 inches to claim the biggest prize in women’s golf. Korda, whose putter has been her kryptonite at times during her career, had been nearly flawless from short range this week in Los Angeles. She lined up the putt, took a breath and put a shaky stroke on the ball, sending it toward her fate. The ball went left off the putter face, hit the lip and looked like it would slip out, sending Korda to a playoff with Charley Hull and Gaby Lopez.

But this time the golf gods had other ideas. Nelly Korda’s destiny had been deferred for long enough — the sting of the runner-up at Erin Hills was a necessary scar, but it didn’t need a partner. The ball hit the lip, rolled around the cup and dropped.

“Don’t make me relive that again,” a laughing Korda told NBC’s Cara Banks while holding the U.S. Women’s Open trophy and wearing the Mickey Wright Medal.

“The thing is, you can barely feel your hands.”

The irony is that Korda’s journey to her dreams is one she’ll play back in her mind for the rest of her life. That feeling, of catching the car you’ve long chased, is something you can’t replicate. It departs quickly, leaving you with only the memory of the day you etched yourself into history and a feeling you will desperately try to recapture.

For Nelly Korda, her road to U.S. Women’s Open immortality started long ago, back before anyone knew Nelly Korda. Back when she was known only as Jessica Korda’s talented, uber-competitive little sister. The tireless work ethic that has come to define her rise was instilled in her at a very young age by her parents, Petr Korda and Regina Rajchrtová, both of whom are former tennis players. She made her U.S. Women’s Open debut at the age of 14 at Sebonack Golf Club in 2013. Her ascent to the dominant star in women’s golf has seen her capture three majors prior to Sunday, but the one she wanted more than anything alluded her. Her track record in the U.S. Women’s Open, a tournament she seemed tailor-made to win, was confoundingly poor — including three missed cuts and two rounds in the 80s — until last year at Erin Hills, where a balky putter kept her from tracking down eventual champion Maja Stark.

“I always felt like I emphasize the Women’s Open so much, like that’s where my dream started of playing on the LPGA,” Korda said on Sunday after her win. “Every year I like never played well. I was always over par or I made a mess of a hole at Lancaster, and I just felt like that dream was almost kind of like slipping away. But it was still keeping me very much so motivated.

That day in Wisconsin was a pivotal moment. It showed Korda that her dream of being a U.S. Women’s Open champion was attainable. “I kind of turned the corner of, okay, like can I be in the hunt, I can do this, I can play and I can contend at a U.S. Women’s Open. I can put the dream aside and focus on what’s right in front of me,” Korda said.

Korda arrived at Riviera as the heavy favorite. This was a massive stage for women’s golf, and the game’s best player winning on an iconic course and putting her name on the Ben Hogan statue that sits above it seemed like the Hollywood script women’s golf has been desperately searching for.

Then came the first round, where Korda stumbled out of the gate, shooting a 2-over 73 to sit seven shots off the 18-hole lead. In the past, Nelly Korda might have gotten down on herself, believing she’d shot herself out of the tournament before the proceedings really got underway and that her long wait would continue. That she was due for more pain instead of the relief she sought. Instead, Korda embraced the major championship grind and fired the low round of the day on Friday, a 4-under 67 to vault back into contention. Another 67 on Saturday saw Korda close with three straight birdies to grab a share of the 54-hole lead and set up the biggest round of her career on Sunday.

On Sunday, Korda received a text message from Tiger Woods, telling her to “Finish it off today.” She had been writing herself positive messages on sticky notes on her bathroom mirror all week. As her dream beckoned, Korda wrote herself one final message.

Whatever happens happens. Just give it 100 percent.

Korda opened with a birdie at the first and added another at the sixth before dropping a shot at No. 7 to fall out of the lead. Korda watched as Hull soared up the board to grab the lead and then saw In Gee Chun race out to a two-shot lead with six holes to play. As others made their move, Korda tried to stay present even while the doubts that come when you’ve tried and failed to achieve your dream inevitably arrive.

“I mean, obviously I’ve had doubts of like even mid-round I was like, well, will I ever win it, right?” Korda said. “I mean you always have those doubts. But I think you’re just a human being if you have them. Like everyone will have them eventually at some parts of their career.”

But Korda never flinched. She made nine straight U.S. Open pars from eight through 16 as Hull, Chun and others stumbled back. She arrived at the par-5 17th tied for the lead, knowing that a birdie and a par would likely deliver her the trophy. Korda found the fairway and then pulled her approach shot into the left rough short of the green but with a good angle to the pin. Her chip left her just short of 10 feet for birdie, which Korda rolled into the center of the cup to take a one-shot lead that she refused to let slip through her fingers, even when she couldn’t feel them on the final putt.

As reality set in for Nelly Korda on the 18th green at Riviera, with fans sitting on the hill chanting her name, her emotions — those that arrive only when lifelong dreams are achieved, when mountains are summited — flowed.

“I feel like I’m in a dream,” a teary-eyed Korda said on the 18th green after receiving the trophy. “Gosh, I just can’t even explain how much this means to me. Thank you all for coming out and cheering me on. It really brings tears to my eyes.

“I really don’t have any,” Korda said later when asked to put her crowning achievement into words. “I mean, that 14-year-old girl that stepped on the range at Sebonack in 2013, I mean, her dream has just come true sitting next to this trophy right now.”

There’s a weight in dreams and in expectations. Nelly Korda has shouldered those as she has tried to find a way to walk the right path to the moment that arrived Sunday at Riviera Country Club. She has tried everything to win this tournament. She emphasized it too much and tried to treat it like any other event. Her failures stacked up and the doubt rose. A deep scar at Erin Hills gave her belief and pain. It also led her to a mindset shift that saw her prioritize being the happy, free Nelly on the golf course instead of allowing negative thoughts to dull her world-class game.

“Last year, the U.S. Open hurt,” Korda’s caddie Jason McDede told GOLF.com in Houston after her Chevron Championship win in April. “But everything happens for a reason, right? If that doesn’t happen, maybe we’re not here right now.”

A month later, “here” was Nelly Korda achieving her dreams and doing so under the most difficult circumstances — when everyone expected her to. When the golf world asked her to turn her dreams into reality, to either vanquish her ghosts or deal with utter devastation.

After finally ascending to the mountaintop, Nelly Korda faced a question all great athletes confront after reaching their destiny, after carrying the burden of grand dreams on their backs. Do you feel different? Has catching the car left you fulfilled and liberated?

But Nelly Korda, whose name will forever live at Riviera Country Club, didn’t feel the need to search for an answer; she’d already found all the ones she needed to finally get to the place she’d always envisioned for herself, back when she was just a girl who drew herself into the stars.

“I don’t know if a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders,” Korda said. “But I just think I’m just extremely proud of my fight this week and the dream of that little girl that you kind of get to check that off your bucket list.”

In the end, Nelly Korda’s winding road to the U.S. Women’s Open trophy came down to 2 feet, 10 inches; to numb hands and doubts and dreams and expectations; to the long journey to immortality and questions about what you’ll be left with if you never arrive at your desired destination. It came down to 2 feet, 10 inches for the world.

Thirty-four inches and every part of the cup later, all of that washed away as Nelly Korda finally became what she was always meant to be — forever a U.S. Women’s Open champion.

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The post Nelly Korda’s clubs: What’s in her U.S. Women’s Open-winning bag appeared first on Golf.

Nelly Korda’s dream 2026 continues with her long-awaited victory at the U.S. Women’s Open.

In addition to winning both of the year’s first two majors, Korda has also logged two additional wins and three runners-up this season in eight starts. The lone non-top-two finish was a T8 last month in Cincinnati.

All of that success has come after multiple changes to her bag late last year, including a switch to the Tour version of TaylorMade’s 2026 TP5x golf ball. Korda was one of the early adopters of the new ball after looking to gain more launch and stopping power with her irons.

“The new TP5x is a game changer for her,” TaylorMade Tour Rep Ryan Ressa said. “When I walked with her after first putting it in play, the ball was noticeably better with her irons. She was playing more aggressively and felt like she could attack pins more freely. She can be way more aggressive with her scoring clubs, which is something she felt like she couldn’t do toward the end of last season.”

Irons

Nelly Korda is hopping on this interesting iron trend | Tour Report

By: Jack Hirsh

The extra spin and check also helps Korda around the greens by allowing her to be more aggressive through the strike.

Korda switched into a Qi4D driver late last year, breaking a streak of using TaylorMade’s “Max” model driver since signing with the company in 2023, and it goes back to her days at Titleist playing their “1” models. That includes the Qi10 Max, which was the driver for her historic, seven-win 2024 season and that she held onto for the entirety of 2025.

She felt the oversized shapes allowed her to turn the ball over more easily.

“The most important thing is the comfort I have over the ball when I look down at the driver,” Korda said. “After that, it’s just if it performs the way I want to.”

The Qi4D does not have that shape, but it does allow manipulation of ball flight through its four adjustable weight ports.

But with every TM staffer seeing ball speed gains with the Qi4D, the Tour team wanted to reintroduce the more pear-shaped profile of the Qi4D to Korda, and after 20 swings, she said, “I actually like this shape better.”

Her final setup included a heavier back heel weight, upright lie angle and a touch more loft, along with the Graphite Design Tour AD-FI shaft.

The golf ball wasn’t the only change Korda made to get more height into the greens, which paid off at Riviera this week. Korda also switched to TaylorMade’s P7CB irons, from the more compact P7MC, late last year.

“I need a little bit more height when it comes to my irons because when we play major championship golf courses, the greens tend to get firmer and faster,” Korda said of the switch. “[P770 and P7CB] give me that so I know that even if I hit a controlled shot, it’s not going to shoot on the green.”

The victory came with Korda’s TaylorMade NK Proto putter, which she switched to last fall as well, and it mimics the shape of the previous putter she used to win six of her seven victories in 2024. However, the NK Proto features TaylorMade’s Pure Roll insert, which has been the catalyst of the company’s Spider mallet platform’s success on the men’s tour with five of the past six major victories.

Keep reading below for all of Korda’s WITB specs.

Nelly Korda’s winning WITB at the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open

Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D 10.5 degrees
FCT Sleeve: Upright 1 Towards Higher
Front weights: 5g Heel, 3g Toe
Back weights: 3g Heel, 3g Toe
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD FI 6-S
Length: 44 3/4’’ CUT

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Driver

SHAPED FOR SPEED The re-engineered head profile increases ball speed thanks to improved aerodynamics developed through advanced simulations. FACE FOR DISTANCE 60x Carbon Twist Face™ is a technological cornerstone that provides weight savings, incredible ball speed and more consistency vs. a titanium face. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight. TOUR PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES New and improved cut-through Speed Pocket™ protects ball speed and reduces spin on low-face strikes. Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation of TaylorMade driver performance. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to strategically place mass in areas of the head where it maximizes performance, speed, and stability.

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Graphite Design Tour AD FI Wood Shaft

The Graphite Design Tour AD FI (Flight Intelligence) wood shaft brings a fresh evolution to the Tour AD lineup, engineered with precision in Graphite Design’s Japan factory. Designed to deliver mid-level launch with low to mid-low spin, it incorporates advanced materials like AD Shield, Torayca M40X, and T1100G, along with the brand’s unique Tornado Tip Technology. Visually, the shaft stands out with a refined butt-section weave, an updated Tour AD logo, and a bold teal-to-black gradient finish at the tip—blending high performance with a sleek, modern look.

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3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2
Actual loft: 15 degrees
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 7-S

7-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2
Actual loft: 21 degrees
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7-S

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Fairway Wood

PROVEN RECIPE TaylorMade Fairways have dominated on Tour for over a decade because of their unique performance recipe, which enables maximum distance and versatility. The Qi4D fairway is designed for golfers who want the most advanced technology while still prioritizing versatility and control with amazing distance. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE Utilizing a single Trajectory Adjustment System weight (8g x1) provides the golfer a more mass efficient way to adjust flight, spin and swing weight. 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight and is available in all lofts. REFINED ATTRIBUTES, BIG CHANGES Engineers conducted an objective analysis of all the performance attributes and discovered new methods to enhance performance and confidence. Sit points, lie angles, address views, and center of gravity locations were all updated based on Tour feedback and the expertise of leading fitters worldwide, ensuring the optimal fairway across skill levels. TOUR-PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES New and improved cut-through Speed Pocket™ protects ball speed and reduces spin on low-face strikes. Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation for TaylorMade fairway performance. Twist Face™ features corrective face curvature designed to provide straighter shots on mishits. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to maximize performance by increasing discretionary weight.

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Hybrid: Ping G425
Loft: 26 degrees @ 25 degrees
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue HB 7 S

Irons: TaylorMade P770 (5), P7CB (6-PW)
Shaft: AeroTech SteelFiber i80 cw
Length: 37″ 7-iron
Loft Progression: 26/30/34/38/42/46
Lie Progression: 64/64.5/65/65.5/66/66

TaylorMade P7CB Custom Irons

BEST-IN CLASS FEEL Using Tour feedback and modal analysis we’ve strategically designed mass placement for best in class feel. Crafted using Compact Grain Forging and 2000 tons of pressure to deliver the purest feeling 1025 soft carbon steel possible. PRECISE CONTROL Precise milled face and grooves combined with a constant CG the P•7CB is designed to deliver an optimal launch and spin combination for the ultimate control and precision. CONSISTENCY Created to maximize accuracy and consistency. The P•7CB optimized perimeter weighting and co-forged tungsten designed to deliver a beautiful blend of stability and workability. COMPACT TOUR SHAPING Every aspect of shaping in this iron was intended to meet the needs of discerning ball strikers. A compact blade length and thin topline create a confident, clean look in the playing position while the sole camber and progressive bounce profile provide consistent turf interaction.

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Wedges: TaylorMade MG5 (50, 54), Titleist Vokey SM11 (60)
Lofts/Grinds: 50-09 SB, 54-13 HB, 60.04T
Shafts: AeroTech SteelFiber i95 cw

TaylorMade Milled Grind 5 Custom Wedge

FORGED FEEL Incredible feel is a must for having a great wedge game. MG5 has been forged from soft carbon steel and designed with geometry to provide excellent feel with great feedback. MAXIMUM SPIN MG5 uses all-new, more aggressive grooves designed to maximize spin. Saw-milled grooves produce tighter tolerances allowing engineers to design steeper walls and sharper radii intended to maximize spin in both dry and damp conditions. PERFORMANCE IN ALL CONDITIONS RAW face with Spin Tread technology channels away moisture to help retain spin. The same way that tire treads help your car stay connected to the road, laser-etched channels redirect water at impact and creates more friction between the club face and golf ball to maintain spin in wet conditions. CRAFTSMANSHIP MEETS CONSISTENCY  Crafted by hand and then milled to perfection. Each wedge and sole grind are precision-milled to eliminate the natural human error that comes with hand polishing. Our grinds deliver unmatched consistency and craftsmanship that players can count on every time. CHARCOAL FINISH MG5 debuts a sleek, sophisticated charcoal finish that reduces glare and enhances its aesthetic appeal in the bag.

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Putter: TaylorMade NK Proto

Ball: TaylorMade 2026 TP5x (Tour Version)

TaylorMade TP5x 2026 Golf Balls

It’s Time to Switch Built on the success of the best Team TaylorMade athletes in the world, TP5x is designed to deliver low spin and unparalleled distance off the tee and world-class feel and control where you need it most around the green. What Is Microcoating? No two golf balls are the same, but the all-new TP5x sets out to solve an invisible problem through our revolutionary microcoating finish process. Uneven paint and excess pooling in the dimples can compromise distance and accuracy. Microcoating uses precision application technology to ensure uniform coverage across the ball’s entire surface. Click on the video for a deep dive. Thinner than a Human Hair Microcoating is thinner than a human hair and delivers measurable performance advantages: more consistent ball flight, optimized distance, and tight left-to-right dispersion. Tour-Level Speed The reengineered Speed Wrapped Core in TP5x increases the coefficient of restitution (COR) for exceptional ball speed at the top end of your bag. Hyper Focus TP5x Stripe employs an all-new Tour Stripe with 360° ClearPath Alignment™, tighter feedback lines, and a performance dot that allows you to achieve hyper focus on the green and hole more putts.

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Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 58 Round

Golf Pride Tour Velvet Swing Grip

Tour Velvet Swing Grip The most popular grip in golf today combines an exclusive, state-of-the-art rubber-blend compound, non-slip surface pattern for maximum playability, comfort, and confidence. The Tour Velvet® is the standard upon which many club manufacturers base their grip designs. ALL-WEATHER CONTROL State-of-the-art rubber-blend compound with a non-slip surface pattern for maximum playability and confidence. MODERATE SURFACE TEXTURE Scientifically designed plus sign texture created to pull moisture away from surface to allow for consistent traction. MODERATE FEEDBACK The standard in grip feel providing comfort and moderate feedback. Specifications: Grip Size: Standard, Midsize, Jumbo Core Size: 58 Round, 60 Round, 60 Round

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Want to overhaul your bag for 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

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Riviera is a Golden Age design with the golden glow of Hollywood about it. Walt Disney, Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart were members, just as Larry David, Owen Wilson and Mark Wahlberg are today.

Yet for all the public figures who have walked its grounds — and for all the prominent tournaments it has hosted — the club protects itself from prying eyes.

Beyond its gated entrance in Pacific Palisades, a circular drive leads to an expansive Spanish Revival-style clubhouse that Riviera’s ownership regards as sacred. Cameras are forbidden, with rare exceptions.

One of those occasions came in the run-up to this week’s U.S. Women’s Open, when the club gave GOLF.com permission to film inside.

The guided tour — led by longtime Riviera member Michael Robin, with input from director of golf Todd Yoshitake and other veteran staffers — offered an intimate look at a stately space most golfers never get to see, steeped in history and filled with priceless memorabilia. Arched doorways open to a grand hall, with soaring ceilings and windows that peer out across the storied course. An adjacent room shimmers with glassed-in displays that make up a newly installed exhibition to commemorate the centennial that Riviera marks this year. From a patio outside, the view extends over the 18th hole and its famous amphitheater green to take in the Pacific in the near distance. Ocean breezes are a constant at Riviera, rippling the palm trees and complicating shots.

Downstairs, at ground level on the sloping property, is the terrace dining room and a corridor that leads to the locker room, its walls mounted with portraits of the greats who have won at Riviera, from Hal Sutton and Fred Couples to Phil Mickelson and Sam Snead. No name, though, looms larger at Riviera than Ben Hogan, who captured three titles (two L.A. Opens and the 1948 U.S. Open) in the span of 18 months — a feat that inspired Los Angeles Times columnist and Riviera member Jim Murray to nickname the course “Hogan’s Alley.”

“If you listen carefully and dream a little bit, you can feel the big galas from the Roaring Twenties and you can feel the giant events from the last 100 years here,” Robin told us.

The stories, though, are better heard in person. Watch the video above or below and get them straight from the source.

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The post Nelly Korda’s secret to success? This new bathroom routine appeared first on Golf.

The post Nelly Korda’s secret to success? This new bathroom routine appeared first on Golf.

On Sunday at iconic Riviera Country Club, World No. 1 Nelly Korda is on a hunt for history.

A late birdie run on Saturday has her tied for the lead and 18 holes away from capturing her first U.S. Women’s Open title. If she’s successful, she’ll also accomplish a feat no American woman has in over 60 years. (UPDATE: Korda shot a final-round 69 to win the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open by one shot.)

One key to Korda’s recent success, as she explained in her press conference Saturday night, was a “mindset shift” that has her dialed into one of the great runs in golf history.

But Korda also revealed the secret that helped her successfully change her attitude. It’s a habit she goes through every morning in the bathroom, a trick inspired by other pro athletes, and one that could see her summit the mountaintop on Sunday.

Korda’s bathroom post-it notes have her eyeing history at U.S. Women’s Open

At last year’s U.S. Women’s Open, Korda came tantalizingly close to getting the job done. But she faltered on the back nine to finish T2, a common pattern in her career to that point.

On Saturday, she explained that last year she “really, really wanted it,” but that became an issue, because “the more you want it sometimes the more you stiffen up and you get a little bit more nervous.”

In the offseason, she pinpointed the source of the problem: her attitude. She explained that frustrations often got the better of her on the course, leading to poor play down the stretch at big tournaments.

The fix? To foster a positive, easygoing attitude on the course.

News

Nelly Korda is about to play the most important round of her life

By: Sean Zak

“That’s kind of been my attitude this year is like no matter what it throws at me, if I’m just going to get a silly bounce here or there I’ll end up in a divot like I’ll figure it out…” Korda said. “Because I think the worst thing that you can be, but which I am still, is a perfectionist in this sport. It does drive you nuts when you constantly miss a divot or you’re in a divot by a centimeter here and there, or you hit a great putt and it just lips out.”

She continued: “Like those frustrations throughout the round can really build when it’s all kind of not going your way.”

Korda explained that she talked to many people close to her to help with her attitude change. Some tough love from her fiancé was also crucial, “He always tells me, ‘You need to be a little bit more positive,'” Korda said while laughing on Saturday.

But while others can help her with an attitude shift, Korda explained that “the only person at the end of the day that can change that is myself.”

To make the new positive outlook stick, Korda started a new bathroom routine this year. She writes positive notes to herself on post-it notes and sticks them on the bathroom mirror when she’s getting ready.

“I started at the beginning of the year writing positive notes to myself in my bathroom,” Korda revealed on Saturday. “And I’ve seen a bunch of athletes do that. So other athletes inspire me, too. I started doing that and it’s a great reminder and I do it occasionally here and there.”

She keeps the routine up on the road, too.

“I travel with post-it notes and I stick ’em on to the mirror when I get ready and I write myself a positive note and that’s my thought for the week,” Korda explained.

But Korda refused to reveal what her bathroom post-it note thought for this week was.

“Nope, nope, that is all me.”

Nelly Korda eyes feat not accomplished in 60 years on Sunday

So far, you can only argue Korda’s new bathroom routine has been a success. She has three wins already this season and three runner-up finishes. One of those wins was a major triumph at the Chevron Championship, the third major title of her career.

After back-to-back 67s at Riviera on Friday and Saturday, Korda is tied with Sei Young Kim at six under.

If she were to claim her fourth major championship victory on Sunday, and first U.S. Women’s Open title, she would be the first American pro to do so in a long, long time.

The last American woman golfer to win four majors was Hall of Famer Mickey Wright. She accomplished the feat way back in 1960… 66 years ago.

It would also give Korda three legs of the career Grand Slam. Despite the fact that there are now five majors in women’s golf, a player only needs to win four of them to be considered a Grand Slam champion.

Better yet? With a victory on Sunday, Korda will have won the first two majors of the season, keeping her hopes for a single-season Grand Slam alive.

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