2026 AIG Women’s Open storylines: Can Nelly Korda or Haeran Ryu make history?

When American golfer Nelly Korda blew out her birthday candles on Tuesday evening in celebration of her 28th birthday, she likely wished for one thing: To win the 2026 AIG Women’s Open and complete a career grand slam. 

The 2026 AIG Women’s Open, the fifth and final major of the LPGA calendar year, is set to tee off at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in England on Thursday, July 30. The first four majors of the year have been split between two golfers after Korda won the first two and South Korea’s Haeran Ryu claimed the last two.

Advertisement

Will Korda or Ryu strike again? Or can someone else win big this year?

Korda and Ryu are vying to become just the fifth woman to win three majors in a single year. American Babe Zaharias was the first woman to do so in 1950, while South Korea’s Inbee Park was the last to accomplish the feat in 2013.

“That’s always the goal, right? To contend in major championships,” Korda said during her preview press conference on Wednesday, July 29. “My attitude this week is control what you can control. Sometimes with golf, you can kind of get pretty agitated with the bounces that you get. … I think what I’ve learned is I just need to take a step back and hit the reset button sometimes.”

Korda got off to a hot start this year and won the first two LPGA major championships —the Chevron Championship in April and U.S. Women’s Open in June— to claim the third and fourth major titles of her career. However, Korda’s short game failed her at the Women’s PGA Championship and she finished tied for eighth place. The championship went to Ryu, the first major of her career after becoming the first player since 1964 to overcome a first-round deficit of at least 10 strokes.

Advertisement

It didn’t take Ryu long to capture her second major. She entered the 2026 LPGA Amundi Evian Championship earlier this month in France feeling “more free” after her breakthrough win, admitting that competing felt “less stressful” now. Ryu went on to win the Evian Championship in a playoff against Brooke Henderson to claim back-to-back majors.

Meanwhile, Korda missed the cut at the 2026 Evian Championship after finishing one stroke above the cut line, ending a 34-tournament cut streak dating back to 2024. However, she expects to bounce back quickly.

“It’s golf. Just because you’re playing well doesn’t mean you’re invincible and you’re going to make every cut and you’re going to be in the top 10 every single week,” Korda said on Wednesday. “There’s going to be weeks that you just don’t have it and that’s the reality of it. And I feel like I’ve done this long enough where I’ve missed enough cuts that it’s just about the bounce back.”

Korda and Ryu will be paired together in a marquee group during the first two rounds, alongside New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, the 2024 AIG Women’s Open champion. They are set to tee off at 3:42 a.m. ET on Thursday.

What’s at stake for Nelly Korda?

With a win, Korda would also complete the career grand slam and have played her way into LPGA Hall of Fame eligibility at the age of 28. Both haven’t been accomplished by an American woman since Juli Inkster in 1999.

Advertisement

To qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, players must accumulate 27 points by way of winning LPGA tournaments (one point), season-ending awards (one point), an Olympic gold medal (one point) or a major (two points).

Korda currently sits at 25 LPGA Hall of Fame points, not that she knows. The 2020 Olympic champion prefers it that way, previously saying she doesn’t want to know how many points she needs. (The answer is two points.)

She finished in 36th place at last year’s Women’s Open at the Royal Porthcawl Gold Club in the United Kingdom, with her best finish coming in 2024 (No. 2). The last time the Women’s Open was contested at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in 2018, Korda finished in 42nd place.

The 2026 AIG Women’s Open marks the third major tournament in five weeks, which Korda said has taken a toll on her mentally and physically.

Advertisement

“Sometimes with it being the fifth major and coming off of a lot of condensed majors in a packed schedule, I feel like you’re a little bit more on edge because you’ve been in these high pressure moments throughout this middle part of year,” Korda, the World No. 1, said Wednesday. “We’re coming off of a big part in our season. So I always feel like maybe I’m a little bit more tired, so the bad bounces get to me a little bit mentally.”

Can a British golfer win Women’s Open on home soil?

The last time the Women’s Open was staged at Royal Lytham in 2018, English golfer Georgia Hall won her first and only major. Can another British golfer win on home soil? Charley Hull could be the one to break through.

Hull is vying for her maiden major title and has come painfully close numerous times, finishing as a runner-up at the Women’s Open in 2023 and 2025. She’s finished in second place at a major three other times, including the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open that Korda went on to win earlier this year.

Advertisement

“I just want to get over the line and win my first major,” Hull said. “Five second-place finishes in majors kind of hurts.”

Korda said it would be “great for the game of golf” if Hull was able to win it all at home.

“She’s an amazing player, a funny personality for sure. I enjoy playing with her at anytime,” Korda said. “That’s sometimes how she goes. It’s about putting yourself into that position. You can’t control what others are doing, but she’s doing something right to always kind of be there, be relevant, be in the hunt. … You can’t get discouraged, it has to be encouraging.”

Hall is also set to compete at the 2026 Women’s Open, just five months after giving birth to her son.

Advertisement

How to watch 2026 AIG Women’s Open

The 2026 AIG Women’s Open, the fifth and final major of the calendar year, is set to tee off on Thursday, July 30, beginning at 1:30 a.m. ET at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England.

• Dates: Thursday, July 30 – Sunday, Aug. 2

• Where: Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club (Lancashire, England)

• Time/ TV Channel: Coverage begins at 4 a.m. ET on Thursday

  • Thursday, July 30: 4-8 a.m. ET (Golf Channel); 8 a.m.-2 p.m. ET (USA)

  • Friday, July 31: 4-8 a.m. ET (Golf Channel); 8 a.m.-2 p.m. ET (USA)

  • Saturday, August 1: 7 a.m.-Noon ET (USA); Noon-2 p.m. ET (NBC)

  • Sunday, August 2: 7 a.m.-Noon ET (USA); Noon-2 p.m. ET (NBC)

Reach USA TODAY National Women’s Sports Reporter Cydney Henderson at [email protected] and follow her on X at @CydHenderson.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2026 AIG Women’s Open storylines: Can Nelly Korda or Haeran Ryu make history?