Nelly Korda has edged closer to being considered one of the greatest golfers of all time with her fourth major victory this past week at the US Women’s Open.
Korda recovered from an opening round of 73 at Riviera to take charge of the second major of the year over Friday and Saturday.
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Of course, the world number one also won the Chevron Championship earlier this season. So it was no surprise when she made the birdie on the 71st hole in the Pacific Palisades to edge out in front.
Nelly Korda’s winning moment provided an underwhelming conclusion to a brilliant week
There was still a chance that Korda could end up in a playoff with Charley Hull and Gaby Lopez after an enthralling final day.
But a par on the 18th was enough to get Korda over the line. She did, however, give everyone around the final green a good scare after needing to make a putt from inside three feet to confirm her victory.
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Korda pushed the putt. And there was a split second when it appeared that it may not even touch the hole at all.
Thankfully, it managed to just drop in. The relief on Korda’s face was clear to see.
And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Ryan Lavner admitted that he is slightly disappointed for Korda that the winning moment may detract some attention from just how well she played for the majority of the tournament.
Photo by Ryan Sirius Sun/Getty Images
“As it relates to Nelly Korda, obviously, we’ve seen her as by far the best player so far in 2026. This was not her best ball striking and not by a long shot. And obviously she played great down the stretch. The drives on 15, 17 and 18 in particular, hitting about 290, right down the centre stripe, put her in position to attack and to win this golf tournament, and her birdie on the 17th hole was the go ahead,” he said.
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“But she won this tournament, not because of the ball-striking, not because of the supreme iron play, it was because of her scrambling. And to hear Brandel Chamblee afterward on Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, say that this was beyond what he had experienced watching Seve in his prime, the spots that Nelly Korda was getting up and down from the variety of shots that she was hitting, the trust that she had in her chipping and pitching motion, even just a couple feet off the putting surface, like grabbing a pitching wedge, grabbing a wedge, and playing that as opposed to bumping it through the short grass with a putter, which I think 95 per cent of those players would have opted to do, it was sensational. 24 out of 30, 80 per cent scrambling for Nelly Korda on the week. That was well above her season average. And then again, it was the reason why she won that.
“She’s one of the longest players on the LPGA when her swing is right. She can knock down flags with the best of them. You add to that what is an underrated short game in sort of a Scottie Scheffler-esque way and I know she lipped in that two and a half footer on the 72nd hole, like quite literally curled it in on the back edge, and I almost had an all time call. I texted a couple of my buddies. I am in a group chat, I said, Nelly Korda would have had two more victories this season had she converted two of the putts of this length earlier in the season when she ended up missing those and wound up finishing second. Almost an all-time call for me. It’s unfortunate that’s going to be replayed as the putt over and over again, because this was spectacular short game, chipping and pitching and putting for Nelly Korda to win this major championship.”
Nelly Korda will not need to worry about the putt most fans remember
There have been plenty of players who have tapped in to win a major. Plenty of players have not been on the course when their winning moment has arrived.
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Many will have already forgotten what Aaron Rai did on the 18th green when he won the PGA Championship last month.
Instead, it will be the brilliant putt he holed on the previous hole that everyone remembers in the years to come.
Similarly, most will reflect on the putt Korda holed on the penultimate hole when they think about her victory at Riviera in the future.
With 18 not presenting many birdie opportunities, that putt was always likely to be pivotal in ensuring that Korda avoided having to negotiate a playoff if she was going to win her fourth major.
In many ways, the fact that Korda could push what was essentially a tap-in so drastically says even more about how impressive the rest of her performance was. It was a much-needed reminder of the fact that she is still human – with an extraordinary amount of talent.
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