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

Four months ago, Nelly Korda stood before the assembled media in Naples, Fla., and tried to reflect on a disappointing season. A year after winning seven times, including a major, the LPGA’s biggest star did not lift a single trophy.

on paper, things were similar. Korda finished the 2025 season with a better scoring average, better shots: Off the tee, better birdie or percentage and better putt numbers than in 2024. Some things were a little off, but, for the most part, Nelly Korda sounded like Nelly Korda.

“It’s honestly a good line,” Korda said in November at the CME Group Tour Championship. “Sometimes it comes down to one shot. It’s like a lip putt outside and you don’t get your momentum. It’s just such a fine line when it comes to golf.

“I don’t necessarily think I’m a worse golfer or a better golfer. I would say maybe last year a few other things were going my way. That’s golf. I’m never going to have a regret party and I’m never going to be like, oh, why is it at this split or why did I get that bad swing. And good breaks and sometimes not.”

Golf is a fickle sport. A bad jump there, a burnt edge here or a poor shot there, and a winning moment can easily melt into a missed opportunity. Korda said the 2025 season was instructive, albeit disappointing. She leaned on her team and used it as a reminder that sometimes those around you have a better perspective on what’s going on than you do when you’re looking at something right in front of your face. In the sometimes isolating world of professional golf, having that support system can pull you through when the inevitable downs come.

Nelly Korda had little chance of winning in 2025. Her late run at the Tournament of Champions was short and an unfortunate swing ended her run at the US Women’s Open. But apart from those two occasions, Nelly Korda’s refined style of golf that won her seven titles in 2024 made only brief appearances in 2025. There would be a flash, but it rarely lasted for long at a time.

Things are different so far in 2026.

Korda opened the season with a weather-shortened Tournament of Champions win. As important as it was, it was difficult to judge that 54-hole victory. Korda played outstanding golf in deteriorating conditions in the third round but finished before the worst of the weather arrived and won the driving distance title on Sunday. Then, she took six weeks off while the LPGA went on the Asia Swing.

But she returned two weeks ago at the Founders Cup and finished runner-up, with a three-shot bogey on Sunday costing her a chance to take down Hyo Joo Kim. Korda did not despair. She did it again last week at the Ford Championship and held the lead for 36 holes before Kim broke through on Saturday for a second straight victory. A win and two runners-up for Korda makes the world number 2 look and sound different than he did a few months ago.

“I’m very grateful. If you would have told me this time last year the finishes I would have now, I would be super happy with the game that is trending,” Korda said Sunday after her second-place finish. “Last year, I just felt so weird with my game. Nothing was going my way.”

It’s a small sample size, but through 11 competitive rounds in 2026, Korda ranks first in 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 (2.6: Approx.). She also ranks first in scoring average, just ahead of Kim, although Kim has played five more rounds so far in match starts.

These numbers will undoubtedly decrease as more golf is played. But more importantly, after a year on the wrong side of golf’s fine line, Nelly Korda appears to be on the verge of returning to her successful world ways. That’s welcome news for a tour he’s been on broadcast improvements and schedule adjustments to attract more eyes. Having its biggest needle mover in shape heading into the major season is vital to the LPGA’s push for growth. The talent runs deep on the LPGA. Starpower raises the ceiling.

Nelly Korda looks like Nelly Korda again. But that doesn’t mean she rediscovered that feeling of 2024. That’s something else.

“Every year is so different,” Korda said Friday at Ford. “I can’t even tell you the similarities now that I’m feeling what I felt two years ago. It’s just a different feeling. Every year, you’re overcoming something, working towards something different.”

For Korda, work has seen him open the year 1-2-2. They almost burned a Korda in search last year. But these have left him looking to the horizon, eager for what’s to come.

“(Caddie Jason McDede) was walking up to 18 and he said, “We’re playing great golf. It’s not time to deflate, it’s time to blow,” Korda said Sunday. “So just keep going with the positives and try to keep putting myself in that position and knocking on the door.”