ERIN, Wis. — She put up a good fight coming down the stretch in Erin, Wis., but Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda ultimately tied for second in her 11th appearance at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally.

She was squarely in the mix ahead of Sunday’s final round, having carded scores of 72, 67 and 73 to trail 54-hole leader Maja Stark by three strokes, a deficit that felt fairly surmountable considering how challenging Erin Hills had been playing throughout the week.

Starting her day at 4-under, Korda grabbed a birdie on the par-5 1st hole to climb to 5-under, now two shots behind Stark. The 15-time LPGA Tour winner then made four pars before dropping a shot on six to once again sit three back of the Swede. But she recovered with a pair of back-to-back birdies on the par-5 7th and par-4 8th holes to move to 6-under and into a three-way tie for second with Japanese major champions Mao Saigo and Hinako Shibuno, two shots behind Stark.

Korda remained at 6-under until she bogeyed 13 to drop back to 5-under, cleaning up that mistake with another birdie on the par-5 14th hole to sit alone in second, two shots off Stark’s pace at 6-under. And while she tried to make something happen to put some pressure on the 25-year-old Swede on the final few holes at Erin Hills, time eventually ran out for the two-time major champion, and a closing bogey on the par-5 18th hole left Korda in a tie for second alongside Rio Takeda with a four-day total of 5-under.

The finish is Korda’s career-best result in the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally and is also her second T2 or better performance on the LPGA Tour this year, as she finished solo second at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. But she was brutally honest in her post-round interview about how disappointing it was not to be crowned champion on Sunday afternoon, elaborating on why she will continue to consider her relationship with this event to be “complicated.”

“I played this event when I was 14 years old, so maybe (I’m) a little bit more emotional about it,” Korda said. “It's gotten my heart broken a couple of times, especially last year with coming off the season I was coming off of. To have that showing last year definitely put a dagger into my heart, but that's just golf. You're going to lose more than you win a majority of the time.

“I feel like I actually learn a lot about myself and my game and where I need to improve playing the U.S. Women's Open because it does test every part of your game. Maybe just a little bit of disappointment when golfers, a lot of us, are perfectionists. So, when I come out here, and a golf course dominates you the way it does, it's never a nice feeling. But it's also super motivating. It's definitely motivating to see where my game's at, but hopefully, I can continue trending in the right direction for a long season ahead.”

Korda put on an incredible display of ball-striking throughout the week at Erin Hills, finishing the U.S. Women’s Open ranked first in strokes gained off the tee (+1.82), tied for second in greens in regulation (56 of 72), third in driving distance (273.7 yards), tied for third in fairways hit (50 of 56) and fifth in strokes gained approach (+1.67). She was even eighth in strokes gained short game (+0.83), which speaks volumes about her ability to recover on the rare occasion she was out of position this week.

It was Korda’s putter that was ultimately her Achilles’ heel, as she lost 0.42 strokes to the field on the greens and was 53rd in total putts with 127. However, she didn’t feel like she was that far off with her flat stick on the extremely sloped, undulating greens that contribute heavily to Erin Hills’ overall difficulty. She just couldn’t seem to get anything to drop, no matter how good her speeds and lines were.

“I hit it so good off the tee. I wasn't in one bunker this week. I feel like that's pretty impressive out here,” Korda said. “I was thinking about that going into the round today. I was like, ‘Don't think about it. It's going to happen if you think about it.’ I was striking it really well. When you strike it really well, and you give yourself so many opportunities, it does get, at the end of the day, frustrating when it comes down to your putting, right?

“I wasn't hitting bad putts. Not at all. I wasn't pushing them. I wasn't pulling them. They just weren't falling. Out here, especially with it getting tougher every single day, matching your speed with your line is very crucial on fast greens. Just as many weren't falling as I hoped for.”

Even though this missed opportunity stings pretty badly right now, Korda is close to capturing her 16th career title on the LPGA Tour. This time last year, everyone was lauding her for the six victories she had earned before June 1, wondering if the young superstar would win every single time she teed it up for the rest of the 2024 season. And honestly, at one point, it felt like she could.

So, while it’s June 1, 2025, and Korda is still waiting to pull into victory lane for the first time this year, that doesn’t mean she isn’t still the same high-level athlete who won seven titles in a calendar year. It feels like good things are on the horizon, and as we learned watching her last year, when it rains it pours for Nelly Korda.

And her T2 finish at the U.S. Women’s Open might be a sign that it’s finally started sprinkling.

Rolex Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda Finishes Tied for Second in 11th U.S. Women’s Open

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