Nelly Korda returns No. 1, triumph in first major of the year

Nelly Korda returned to the top of the women’s world golf rankings with a clear victory at The Chevron Championship, the LPGA’s first major of the season staged at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston.

The American closed in 270 strokes (-18), signing a final-round 70 (-2) and leaving behind Ruoning Yin and Patty Tavatanakit, paired in second place, by five lengths. For Korda, this is her third career major and her first success at this level since her 2024 triumph: a result that also earns her a return to No. 1 in the world rankings, a position she has not held since last August.

Starting the last round with a five-shot lead, Korda administered the margin with great solidity. While not forcing, she maintained control over the last 29 holes played overall in par, lucidly managing a situation that she described as delicate: “It’s not easy to start with such a large lead. The difficulty was figuring out when to continue playing like Nelly and when to choose a more cautious approach instead.”

Making the success even more significant is also the mental response shown after Saturday’s smears. Some mistakes on short putts had fueled questions, but Korda turned them into motivation: “I kept telling myself that I wanted to raise this trophy to show everyone that you can miss short putts and still win a major. Mistakes are part of the game, but you have to stay 100 percent mentally. I wanted to prove that to myself and those watching.”