KORDA WINS THIRD MAJOR AT CHEVRON AND RETURNS TO NO.1
American Nelly Korda after winning The Chevron Championship 2026 at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, Texas (Photo: LPGA)
Nelly Korda picked up her second Chevron Championship title after a commanding five stroke victory over Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit and China’s Yin Ruoning.
The American winner picked up her second win of the season after the 27-year-old won the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions to kick off her 10th year on Tour, and her latest triumph at Memorial Park in Houston, Texas has several broad historical and statistical implications.
Korda is the first athlete since Amy Alcott at the 1991 Chevron Championship to win a Major wire-to-wire. She is the seventh American to win her third major title before the age of 28, and the second athlete in the 2020 era to win three Majors, alongside Australian Minjee Lee. Her five-stroke margin of victory is the largest by a wire-to-wire winner since Yani Tseng 10-shot triumph at the 2011 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Korda closed with a final round 70 for an 18-under 270 total. Tavatanakit and Ruoning slosed with respective 70, 69 to share second on 13 under. Kora claimed the $1,350,000 winner’s cheque.
“It’s not easy going in with that big of a lead,” said Korda, noting the difficulty of retaining a lead. “I think that was the challenging point with like, where do I still play like Nelly and where do I play a little defensive?”
‘What I was telling myself was I really want to hoist this trophy because I want to show the kids at home that it’s OK to miss short putts and still win a Major championship,” she added. “You’re going to make mistakes. You have to mentally still be in it 100 per cent, and that’s really what I wanted show.
“I wanted to show it to myself and I wanted to show it everyone looking up to me.”
Korda celebrated with a cannon ball into the water beside the 18th green to keep with the tradition at this Major that dates to 1988 when the winner jumped into Poppie’s Pond at Mission Hills in the California desert.
“Feet first,” she said with a smile, dressed in the winner’s white robe. “I knew it was 4 feet, so I was expecting to hit the ground very fast.”
Ireland’s Leona Maguire missed the cut after two 76s left her out of the weekend action.
Korda’s win means she will return to number one on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, reclaiming the top spot for the first time since Jeeno Thitikul overtook the American last August. It will mark her 109th career week at the top.
Korda is now within five points of securing her place in the Hall of Fame. Only 35 other women are in the LPGA Hall of Fame, the most recent is Lydia Ko, after winning the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.