like Nelly Korda stared down a 9-foot-2-inch putt on the 71st hole of Women’s US Open IN Riviera on Sunday, she knew exactly what was at stake: the grandest title in the women’s game, and one that had eluded her in 11 previous attempts. Hole putt for a birdie 4 and Korda would take a one-shot lead on the home hole; miss and . . . well, she’d have to match Riv’s par-4 18th just for a playoff spot. “I knew I had to make it,” Korda said later.
She also knew that the shot putter would move fast and hard from left to right. Relying on a tactic she had used all week, Korda picked an immediate target between her ball and the hole, closed in on the spot and coolly holed the birdie – taking her to two under for her round and eight under for the tournament, one clear of the clubhouse co-leaders. Charlie Hull and Gaby Lopez. Later, at her winner’s press conference, Korda said: “That putt is why I’m here.”
Really, though, every Korda others Sunday’s 68 was just as important, including the four shots that came after her 4-putt on 17: her broken tee shot on 18 that left her just 145 yards to the green; her calm approach to the green fat that left her 35 yards from glory; and, from there, her strong late putt that sealed the deal when it went just 2 feet 10 inches from the hole. Thirty-four centimeters. A shot in the game. A formality. Such a thing, if only there was such a thing in the professional game.
You’d be forgiven for thinking Korda is perfect, especially this year. Her graceful swing, which deserves her arm at the Met, is one thing. But her stats are even more impressive: In eight starts in 2026, Korda has now won four times (including two major titles) and finished runner-up on four other occasions; she is earning more than 4 shots per round in her “competition”; and her 68.26 scoring average is an astonishing 1.15 strokes clear of her closet rival. If this LPGA season was a boxing match, the referee would have called it weeks ago.
And yet no golfer is perfect. No Babe. No Hogan. No Jack. No Tiger. Not Nelly Korda. Her humanity comes through on the greens, often over short shots in nervous moments. In March, at the Fortinet Founders Cup, Korda’s hopes of victory were dashed when she missed a bogey and a half on the 71st hole. “Stupid mistake,” she said after the round. Short misses also cost her dearly at the 2021 AIG Women’s Open and the 2023 Chevron Championship. Korda’s short swings were also evident at this year’s Chevon. which she won by five. Korda’s victory could have been even more dominant if not for three missed 4-footers over her final 11 holes. “I want to show the kids back home that it’s okay to miss short shots and win a major championship again,” Korda said afterward. “You will. You will make mistakes, but mentally you still have to be 100% in it.”
Not all 34-inchers are created equal, and the one Korda let himself in on Riviera’s 18th green on Sunday — with thousands of fans and the ghost of Hogan watching from the natural amphitheater above — fell somewhere between a tickler and a terrorist. “I had to honestly say to myself a few times, okay, stay in the moment, because I dreamed of lifting the trophy a little early,” Korda said. “I kept going back; I’m like the job’s not done.”
Her final task: a delicate man from left to right, leaving the left, the history of golf in the balance.
“I was like, good lord,” Korda said. “A bit too much, like, why did I leave myself such a long putt to make par?”
As Korda headed for her goal, her ball landed in the shadow created by her right foot. Also between her head and the hole was the shadow cast by her left foot—inconsequential distractions under most circumstances, but . . . yes, not optimal given the weight of the moment. Korda said he had a stroke thought and it wasn’t a positive one.
“I knew I didn’t want to lose it properly,” she said.
So she played defense prevention.
“Maybe he was aiming a little too far to the left and he pulled it,” she said. “I mean, your heart rate is going.”
The same was true for anyone watching from home.
The ball came off Korda’s blade to the left and stayed to the left. Inches from the hole, it looked like she had removed it. An inch from the hole, it was clear HAD caught him. Mercifully, the ball caught the edge of the hole and rolled around it like a skateboarder peeling around a pool. Korda’s title didn’t quite complete a 360, but it came close before finally disappearing. The new champion raised his right hand to his mouth, the international sign for OMG.
“She thought she lost it,” NBC analyst Morgan Pressel said on the telecast.
There was no cord. Instead, she had made history.
