Korda is back in her bubble and a big year could await

Rory McIlroy spent 17 years trying to win the Masters, and when he faced the media for the first time wearing his green jacket, he asked, “What are we going to talk about next year?”

It wasn’t that bad for Nelly Korda, even if it felt that way. The questions about a lifetime goal she was chasing didn’t come every year at one tournament. They were crammed into a single season, asking whether she could live up to the past.

Korda won seven times in 2024, the most on the LPGA Tour in 17 years. And then last year she didn’t win at all, even though her statistics were similar, if not better in some areas.

“A super frustrating year,” she said. “I would come into a room like this and everyone would be like, Your stats are great, better than last year, but you have zero trophies under your name this year.’ I’m like, I see that, yes.’ It wears on you because that’s what you’re working for.”

Frustration led to too much thinking, too much analysing. She wasn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, but her wheels were spinning without going anywhere.

“That was paralyzing me,” she said. “I told myself I don’t ever want to feel like that on a golf course.”

Korda looked nothing like that over four days at Memorial Park when she won The Chevron Championship with a dominance not seen at an LPGA major in 35 years.