Less than two weeks ago, Nelly Korda won her second straight major in a thriller at Riviera Country Club.
It was the first time the famous golf course had hosted a women’s major, and the result exceeded expectations.
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NBC Sports reported a 78% increase in final-round viewership from 2025, including an average of 1.3 million viewers throughout Sunday’s broadcast. Viewership peaked in the final 15 minutes, when 2.2 million tuned in to watch a precarious par putt from Korda nearly lip out — but ultimately drop in — to secure the world No. 1 her first U.S. Women’s Open title and fourth major overall.
Korda bested runners-up Charley Hull and Gaby Lopez by a stroke, narrowly avoiding a playoff.
The win has stuck with USGA leadership. So much so that CEO Mike Whan and Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer raved about it during a press conference on Wednesday ahead of this week’s U.S. Open.
“For 15 or 16 years of my life, I’ve been standing on the 18th green waiting to give somebody a trophy, and if we were being honest, by the time you get to Sunday afternoon late in the day, you are thinking, ‘Somebody win, we have planes to catch, we got the next.’ [But] I was standing there saying, ‘Please be a playoff, please be a playoff,” Whan said. “… Then Nelly did what she did, and I was the first person to run up and hug Jason, her caddie. You become a fan in those moments.”
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Nelly Korda celebrates U.S. Women’s Open title in the Big Apple
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World No. 1 ranking. Two major championship victories. Four LPGA wins. Eight top-ten finishes. Nelly Korda is celebrating her incredible year so far with a victory tour of the Big Apple.
For decades, the men’s U.S. Open has been played at the country’s best golf courses. You scroll down the list of winners and locations, and it’s behemoth after behemoth. Meanwhile, the women have played still good, but often lesser known courses.
The difference is twofold.
For one, there isn’t instant fan recognition; there aren’t heated pre-tournament debates on social media about how to tackle Shinnecock’s 252-yard par 3.
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For two, the women’s current and future players limit themselves by thinking winning at those courses isn’t a possibility, dimming their dreams and motivation.
“When we were at Riviera for Women’s Open media day, someone asked Maja Stark, [the 2025] champion, if she had ever dreamed about competing for a Women’s Open at a place like Riv, and she said never,” USGA’s Beth Major chimed in on Wednesday. “She said, ‘I never thought that was something that was realistic for us.’ So she said this really changes what our dreams look like. I think for all of us, that was super powerful.”
If you look at the lineup of future hosts for the U.S. Women’s Open over the next 20-ish years, it’s much more recognizable — much more behemoth-like.
Oakmont. Pinehurst No. 2. Oakland Hills. LACC. Merion. Pebble Beach. Oak Hill. The Country Club.
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And notable to this week: Shinnecock in 2036.
“I think we will not know the impact of Riviera for another decade,” Bodenhamer said. “I’ve just got to believe, like I as a little boy watched Jack Nicklaus win at Baltusrol in 1980. I can tell you so many friends that I have that watched that moment, and it inspired us. Tom Watson winning at Pebble Beach in 1982. We were little boys that wanted to win the U.S. Open.
“There were thousands, if not tens of thousands of little girls, who watched Nelly Korda lift that trophy, and ten years from now, we’re going to see them playing and winning, and we’re going to see more Nelly Kordas. Isn’t that cool? Not just in the United States, but all around the world.”
“The women deserve to win at Riviera — at Shinnecock,” Bodenhamer added.
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Whan also pointed out that, in the past 15 years, the most watched U.S. Women’s Opens have been at three of the aforementioned courses: Pinehurst No. 2, Pebble Beach and Riviera.
“No shock there. That’s why [Bodenhamer’s] leading us to those places over the next 20 years.”
Hazeltine National Golf Club – Scenics
How to watch the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
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