Nelly Korda Caps an Incredible Major Campaign With a Tie for Fourth at Royal Lytham

It was a back-and-forth kind of week for Nelly Korda at the AIG Women’s Open – such is the kind of golf that could be played on an iconic links layout like Royal Lytham & St Annes – but in the end, a tidy comeback over her final 10 holes Sunday left her tied for fourth.

And with her top-5 finish, Korda clinched the Rolex Annika Major Award for 2026. She became the second player to win the award twice.

Her two-win major campaign could have almost been a three-win campaign as she’ll rue a two-hole stretch in the final round at Royal Lytham, but her finish marked her fourth top-10 major result this season – after winning both the Chevron Championship and U.S. Women’s Open. She is the first player with four top-10s in majors (including multiple wins) since Inbee Park in 2015.

Earlier in 2026, Korda became the first American to win the first two majors of the season since Pat Bradley in 1986.

Korda, who ended up just three back of Shiho Kuwaki’s winning total, had an idyllic start to her Sunday making birdies on her first two holes at Royal Lytham. She bogeyed the par-3 5th to give one back but then made a double bogey on the par-5 6th.

At that point it felt like Korda was out of the tournament.

But as she’s so often done through her career, Korda never gave up.

The world No. 1 made a birdie on No. 9 and then added two more on Nos. 11 and 13 before closing her week with a final circle on the scorecard on the par-4 18th after a lengthy birdie putt found the bottom of the cup.

Korda ended up shooting 68 on Sunday – the same score she posted on Friday – and ended up holding the clubhouse lead for most of Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, her Thursday and Saturday rounds of 73 kept her from making any final pushes up the leaderboard.

Korda ended up at 2 under for the week alongside Jeeno Thitikul.

Kuwaki won for the first time on the LPGA Tour, defeating Esther Henseleit on the second playoff hole.

Korda said earlier in the week that her game plan was to control what she could control. On links golf you can get “pretty agitated,” she said, with the kind of bounces and odd lies you may end up with even if you hit a good shot. She said she has a “love/hate” relationship with links golf, but she’s been managing it just fine in her career so far at the AIG Women’s Open. Her T4 Sunday at Royal Lytham was her sixth career top-15 finish in 10 starts at the final major of the year.

Korda will remain on top of the Race to CME Globe standings and will continue to be the world No. 1 after this week. There is still a hearty handful of events left on the LPGA Tour schedule as Korda looks to continue her incredible campaign – along with playing a starring role for the U.S. Solheim Cup team back in Europe in September.

Korda had, of course, an incredible season to remember in 2024 winning seven tournaments including a major at the Chevron Championship. The following season, however, was jarringly different. Statistically she was even better than the year prior but she didn’t find the winner’s circle once.

That winless trend was quashed earlier in 2026 as she won the first tournament right out of the gates and has gone on to notch three more victories including the two aforementioned major titles.

“Last year was a hard year, definitely,” Korda said this week. “I just decided that I need to stop getting so frustrated with everything. Like I'm having a great shot, be in a divot, and I would get frustrated. What is going on? Why am I getting these bounces? I just really (hated) this attitude.

“If I'm giving everything to my craft, my body, at the end of the day like the bounces are out of my hands. What other girls do, can't control that. I'm here to focus on myself and to do the best job that I possibly can.”

In the majors in 2026, Korda did a tremendous job.

And thanks to her finish at the AIG Women’s Open, she’ll be awarded for her impressive body of work at the biggest events in women’s golf.

Nelly Korda Caps an Incredible Major Campaign With a Tie for Fourth at Royal Lytham

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