Die-hard LPGA Tour fans are hard to come by.
While women’s sports have become more popular and watched in recent years, women’s golf still isn’t the phenomenon that women’s basketball or other sports are.
People don’t typically tune into a women’s golf event on a Thursday or Friday afternoon at work. And when the weekend rolls around, there are probably more widely-viewed sports happening.
Women’s golf can be hard to watch. It needs a compelling story, and Nelly Korda is that story.
Korda, who is the No. 1-ranked women’s golfer in the world, has started the 2026 season on a tear. After winning her first start of the season at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, she placed second in her next three starts. That streak was broken with a win at the Chevron Championship — one of the women’s five major championships — followed by another victory, this time at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba. Korda’s most recent result was her worst of the season, a tied-for-eighth place finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G.
Korda’s dominance over fields isn’t a new phenomenon. Her 2024 season went similarly to how this season began.
In 2024, Korda won seven times on the LPGA Tour, including one major championship, the Chevron Championship. Six of those wins came in her first eight starts before three straight missed cuts in late May and June, two of which were in majors, slowed down her hot season.
She finished tied for 26th at the Amundi Evian Championship and tied for second at the AIG Women’s Open in the final two majors of the year en route to winning the season-long Race to the CME Globe.
Korda didn’t win an event in 2025, but made the cut in all 19 LPGA Tour events she played in. For fans, it felt like a disappointing follow up to her historic season in 2024, but she’s regaining that power and control.
At 27 years old, Korda is just four points away from qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame, which operates on a points-based system with a few special exemptions. Members get two points for a major win, one point for a LPGA Tour win, one point for an Olympic gold medal and one point for winning the Rolex Player of the Year or Vare Trophy. The last player inducted into the Hall of Fame was Lydia Ko after she won the Olympic gold medal in 2024 and became the youngest player to enter the Hall of Fame at 27 years old.
Korda has 15 regular wins, three majors, one Olympic gold medal and one Rolex player of the Year award, putting her at 23 total points. Reaching the Hall of Fame this season isn’t impossible for Korda.
Her dominance provides the women’s game with a captivating storyline and draws people in. Is Nelly going to win again this week? How long will her streak of top-10 finishes last? Is she going to win another major? Is she going to win all the majors? Is she going to qualify for the Hall of Fame this year?
But despite the near flawlessness of Korda’s swing, she’s not immune to mistakes. And I think that’s why people find Korda, who seems untouchable atop the world in her sport, somewhat relatable.
After Korda’s win at the 2026 Chevron Championship, she talked about those hiccups. She didn’t play perfectly, but the way she worked to come back from those mistakes was what carried her to the win.
“Honestly, what I was telling myself was I really want to hoist this trophy because I want to show the kids at home that it’s okay to miss short putts and still win a major championship,” Korda said to NBC’s Tom Abbott after the final round. “You’re going to make mistakes but mentally, you still have to be in it 100%. That’s really what I wanted to show. I wanted to show it to myself, and I wanted to show it to everyone also looking up to me.”
For full transparency, when it comes down to the basics of winning any professional golf event, let alone a major championship, making short putts is a must; Korda just entered the final round with a five-shot lead over second-place Patty Tavatanakit.
However, the sentiment of her statement remains the same: mistakes happen, even to the No. 1 golfer in the world. It’s the reaction to those mistakes that matters.
For any young golfer, that’s an important message in a sport in which competitions are one swing at a time. A bad shot doesn’t necessarily define a hole, round or tournament; mental resilience does.
Korda’s important for a sport that needs more entertaining characters; more compelling figures who are easy to cheer for and who make you ask questions about what happens next. But she’s also human in a sport that so many people try to perfect.
