2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship: 11 players to watch at Hazeltine

Can Nelly Korda make it three majors in a row?

That’s the big storyline heading into this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National. The World No. 1 claimed a five-shot triumph at the Chevron Champions in April and then continued her winning ways with a one-shot victory at the U.S. Women’s Open, arguably the biggest win of her 19 career LPGA titles.

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It’s come during a dominant 2026 campaign in which she’s made nine starts, won four times and finished no worse than T-8 in an individual event. And should she win this week, the 27-year-old will leave herself just one victory shy of earning a spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame.

Korda makes winning look easier than it actually is, but the rest of the field isn’t going to conceded anything to her. The top players in the women’s game return to a course that hosted this same event in 2019. That’s when Australia’s Hannah Green secured her first LPGA title.

The Women’s PGA continues a steady stream of women’s majors, with the Amundi Evian Championship and AIG Women’s British Open two of the next three events on the LPGA schedule. It’s time to find your game, and these 10 players to watch (listed based on their Rolex Ranking) all seem ready for the stretch run.

Yana Wilson

Raj Mehta

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Age: 19 Rolex Rankings: 191 KPMG Women’s PGA starts/Cuts made: Debut

Don’t let Wilson’s world ranking fool you. She recently teamed with Gina Kim to win the Dow Championship for her first career LPGA, but it didn’t count for World Ranking points, so her rank didn’t change with the victory. She’s one of the longest hitters on tour, averaging 276.25 yards off the tee. More importantly, she’s coming into Hazeltine with newfound confidence.

Lauren Coughlin

Dylan Buell

Age: 33Rolex Rankings: 14KPMG Women’s PGA starts/Cuts made: 5/3 Best finish: T-15, 2023 2025 finish: Missed Cut

Coughlin has had an up-and-down season. She won the Aramco Championship in April, but has missed the cut in three out of her last four events. The one cut she made in that stretch was at the U.S. Women’s Open, where she finished T-14. Coughlin was born in Minneapolis, just half an hour from Hazeltine. Her family moved when she was young, and she grew up in Virginia. But there aren’t many LPGA players from Minnesota, so Coughlin might find herself some crowd support at Hazeltine.

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Haeran Ryu

Dylan Buell

Age: 25 Rolex Rankings: 12 KPMG Women’s PGA starts/Cuts made: 3/2 Best finish: T-9, 2024 2025 finish: T-61

The South Korean has three top-fives in 2026, but is still looking for win No. 1. Her long game has been impeccable: She’s gaining 3.11 strokes on the field tee-to-green in 2026. But her short game, especially her putting, has lagged behind. If she were to have a good week with the putter, she’ll certainly be a factor at Hazeltine.

Lydia Ko

Raj Mehta

Age: 29 Rolex Rankings: 11 KPMG Women’s PGA starts/Cuts made: 13/12 Best finish: 2, 2016 2025 finish: T-12

Yes, I know she missed the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open. But the incentive to win this week is big for the New Zealander; if she were to win, she’d complete the Grand Slam. (The LPGA has five majors, so if a player wins four, they complete the Career Grand Slam. If they win all five, they complete the Super Career Grand Slam.)

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Sei Young Kim

Ryan Sirius Sun

Age: 33 Rolex Rankings: 10 KPMG Women’s PGA starts/Cuts made: 11/9 Best finish: Win, 2020 2025 finish: T-52

Her KPMG Women’s PGA victory in 2020 is her lone major among 13 career LPGA titles. She’s earned three top-10 finishes in 2026, one of which was a fifth place at the U.S. Women’s Open. Her ball-striking remains excellent, but the one part of her game that’s been holding her back is her putting, where she’s losing .54 strokes to the field.

Minjee Lee

Al Chang/ISI Photos

Age: 30 Rolex Rankings: 9 KPMG Women’s PGA starts/Cuts made: 11/11 Best finish: Win, 2025 2025 finish: Win

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The Aussie’s win a year ago at PGA Frisco gave her three career majors and 11 LPGA titles overall. Surprisingly, she has yet to win in 2026 and her two top-five finishes both came before the end of March.

Hannah Green

Kate McShane

Age: 29 Rolex Rankings: 6 KPMG Women’s PGA starts/Cuts made: 8/6 Best finish: Win, 2019 2025 finish: 68

Green returns to Hazeltine with a flood of positive memories, and the Aussie has already won twice this season, which is quite an accomplishment given how Nelly Korda has claimed four titles, not leaving much space for other repeat winners. Green’s gaining on the field in every category except around the green. It’s interesting, because when she won in 2019, she did it with deft scrambling.

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Ruoning Yin

Icon Sportswire

Age: 23 Rolex Rankings: 5 KPMG Women’s PGA starts/Cuts made: 4/3 Best finish: Win, 2023 2025 finish: T-23

She’s a five-time LPGA Tour winner, but hasn’t been victorious sine the Maybank Championship in October 2024. In other words, she seems to be due for a victory. And she’s already won this one, in 2023 at Baltusrol. In the most recent major start, the U. S. Women’s Open, she finished T-8.

Charley Hull

Ryan Sirius Sun

Age: 30 Rolex Rankings: 4 KPMG Women’s PGA starts/Cuts made: 11/7 Best finish: T-6, 2018 2025 finish: T-12

Hull said it herself: She feels a different level of motivation for the majors. In the year’s first two, she finished T-10 at Chevron and T-2 at the U.S. Women’s Open. “If it’s a normal week-to-week, I struggle sometimes getting the motivation,” she said earlier this month. “But when it comes to major weeks, I just love it. If I just even just make the cut, I feel like at the weekend I can make a massive charge.”

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Jeeno Thitikul

Sarah Stier

Age: 23 Rolex Rankings: 2 KPMG Women’s PGA starts/Cuts made: 4/3 Best finish: 4, 2002, 2025 2025 finish: T-4

When will Jeeno finally claim the breakthrough major that everybody has been waiting for? It could very well be this week at Hazeltine, but the burden of expectations isn’t getting any easier for the former World No. 1. Her major run in 2026 is also a bit shaky, with a missed cut at Chevron and a T-28 at the U.S. Women’s Open. With nine career top-10s in majors, a win has to be coming soon … doesn’t it?

Nelly Korda

Christian Petersen

Age: 27 Rolex Rankings: 1 KPMG Women’s PGA starts/Cuts made: 9/7 Best finish: Win, 2021 2025 finish: T-19

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The most remarkable part about her performance in the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club was the fact that she made a grip change mid-week and went on the claim the title. She’s proven that she’s capable of winning every tournament she enters. And as a little added boost of confidence, the last time the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was at Hazeltine, Korda finished T-3.