Nelly Korda dominates Chevron Championship to claim LPGA's first major

Nelly Korda led wire to wire to claim the Chevron Championship for the third major title of her decorated career. Erik Williams / Imagn Images Share articleNelly Korda has once again made her splash, this time in wire-to-wire fashion. Korda won the Chevron Championship, the LPGA’s first major of the season, by five shots Sunday. She led the tournament by two or more strokes after each of the four rounds. With the win, she added a third major title to her decorated resume of 17 victories. It is her second time winning the event, which the LPGA relocated from its longtime home in Palm Springs, Calif., to the Greater Houston area in 2023. “Having that big of a lead, it’s not easy,” Korda said. “It was definitely one of the hardest things I’ve had to do mentally, but I have an amazing support system, amazing family right behind me, an amazing caddie on the bag, and I’m just happy to get it done.” Korda ended her victory by holing a lengthy par putt and cannonballing into the pool installed off the 18th green at Memorial Park, alongside her team and family. The LPGA added the feature to honor the tradition of leaping into Poppie’s Pond, the hazard on the 18th hole at Mission Hills, where the tournament was held for 51 years. With the win, Korda will return to the No. 1 spot in the world, ending Jeeno Thitikul’s 8-month-long run on top. Korda has spent more than 100 weeks at the world No. 1 spot throughout her career. Korda posted an 18-under tournament total for 72 holes at Memorial Park, and it marked a victory that was not difficult to see coming. Wire-to-wire for the win ✨ pic.twitter.com/3b7X0A2mea Korda started Sunday with a five-shot lead after setting the tournament’s 54-hole scoring record at 16-under. At one point, she led by as many as eight shots. Her rounds of 65, 65, 70 and 70 included only five bogeys. Despite the clean scorecards, Korda had a stretch when her putter momentarily went cold. On Saturday, she missed three 4-foot putts in her final 11 holes. They only motivated her. “Honestly, what I was telling myself was, I really want to show the kids at home that it’s OK to miss short putts and still win a major championship,” she said. “You’re going to make mistakes, but you have to mentally still be in it 100 percent, and 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.” In her first four starts of the season, Korda has not finished outside of the top two on the leaderboard. After opening the season with a victory at the Tournament of Champions, Korda has been beaten by only two players: Lauren Coughlin and Hyo Joo Kim. Her results so far this year: win, second place, second place, tie for second, win. Korda becomes just the seventh American LPGA player to win a third major championship before turning 28. She joins Amy Alcott, Patty Berg, Louise Suggs, Kathy Whitworth, Betsy Rawls and Mickey Wright on that list of champions. Korda, who hails from Bradenton, Fla., has been a threat on tour since she made her debut as a professional, taking after her older sister, Jessica, in 2017. She broke out with a stretch of dominant golf — echoing what the PGA Tour has seen in Scottie Scheffler — when she won in five consecutive starts during her 2024 season, matching the LPGA Tour record. One of those victories included the 2024 Chevron Championship, where she secured her second major championship. In 2025, however, Korda’s momentum stalled. She did not win a tournament, despite posting 10 top-10 finishes. Korda began the week by declaring her affinity for long and difficult major tests. Memorial Park, which also annually hosts the PGA Tour, played at 6,811 yards for the women in Houston this week, which is on the longer side of a typical LPGA course setup. Korda is one of the longest players on the LPGA, averaging 287.2 yards off the tee. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms