After a ‘strange’ year, Nelly Korda is back to her world-conquering ways

Four months ago, Nelly Korda stood before the media gathered in Naples, Fla., and tried to reflect on a frustrating season. After a year of winning seven times, including a major, the LPGA superstar did not lift the trophy.

On paper, things were the same. Korda finished the 2025 season with a better scoring average, better Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, better birdie or percentage and better bogey avoidance numbers than in 2024. His Hitting Earned: The approach numbers were nearly even, and his putting was well marked. A few things were a little off, but, for the most part, Nelly Korda looked like Nelly Korda.

“It’s a really good line,” Korda said back in November at the CME Group Tour Championship. “Sometimes it comes to the point where there is only one shot, it’s like taking out your lips and you don’t get the momentum.

“I don’t really think I’m a worse golfer or a better golfer. I’d say maybe last year a few things went my way. That’s just how golf is. I’ve never had a sad party and I’m never going to be like, oh, why on this divot or why did I get that bad jump. Sometimes you find out how good a game is. It breaks and sometimes you don’t.”

Golf is a game of change. A bad bounce there, a burnt edge here or a poor claim there, and a winning moment can easily melt into a missed opportunity. Korda said the 2025 season was instructive, albeit disappointing. He leaned on his team and used it as a reminder that sometimes those around you have a better idea of ​​what’s going on than you when you’re staring at something in front of your face. In the fragmented world of pro golf, having that support system can cheer you up when the inevitable dips come.

Nelly Korda had a few chances to win in 2025. Her late run at the Tournament of Champions was short-lived, and a disastrous swing ended her run at the US Women’s Open. But, apart from those two situations, Nelly Korda’s strong, powerful style of golf won him seven titles in 2024, making brief cameos in 2025. There would be light, but it rarely lasted long at one time.

Things are different so far in 2026.

Korda opened the season with a win at the weather-shortened Tournament of Champions. As it should be noted, it was difficult to judge that 54-hole victory. Korda played some impressive golf in poor conditions in the third round, but finished before the worst of the weather arrived and won the title at the driving range on Sunday. After that, he took six weeks off when the LPGA continued the Asia Swing.

But he bounced back two weeks ago at the Founders Cup and finished second, with a three-putt bogey on Sunday costing him a run at Hyo Joo Kim. Korda did not give up hope. He got it together again last week at the Ford Championship and led for 36 holes before Kim outshot him on Saturday and won his second straight. Korda’s victory and runner-up finish made World No. 2 looks and sounds different than what he did a few months ago.

“Thank you very much. If you would have told me this time last year about the finish I would have now, I would have been very happy with the trend,” Korda said Sunday after finishing in second place. “Last year, I just felt weird about my game. Nothing was going right for me.”

A small sample size, but in 11 rounds of competition in 2026, Korda ranks first in total Strokes Gained: Total (4.00), first in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (5.55), third in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (2.10) and third in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (2.10). He is also first in scoring average, slightly ahead of Kim, although Kim has played five more rounds so far at the start.

Those numbers will obviously dip as more golf is played. But the most important point is that, after a year on the wrong side of the golf curve, Nelly Korda appears to be on the road back to her world-conquering ways. That’s welcome news for a tour that has undergone broadcast upgrades and schedule changes to attract more attention. Having the form to move the big needle as the senior season approaches is critical to the LPGA’s push for growth. The talent is deep in the LPGA. Starpower raises the ceiling.

Nelly Korda looks like Nelly Korda again. But that doesn’t mean he got that 2024 feeling back. This is something else.

“Every year is very different,” Korda said Friday at Ford. “I can’t even tell you the same right now that I feel the way I did two years ago. I have a different feeling. Every year, you win something, you work on something different.”

For Korda, the job saw him open the year 1-2-2. Those who almost missed it would have burned the Korda that was searching last year. But these left him looking to the horizon, longing for what was to come.

“[Caddie Jason McDede] he was going at 18, and he was like, ‘We’re playing amazing golf. It’s not a time to melt, it’s a time to fuel each other,’” Korda said on Sunday.