For the second time in her LPGA Tour career, world No. 1 Nelly Korda won the Annika Major Award in a tight race over Haeran Ryu.
Korda got off to a dream start to the major championship season, winning her second Chevron Championship. This win was arguably the most dominant of her career, as she raced out to a massive lead early and never looked back.
Despite back-to-back rounds in the 70s over the weekend, Korda still finished five strokes clear of second place, which came from Patty Tavatanakit and Ruoning Yin. This was Korda’s third major championship of her career.
Just about a month and a half later, at The Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, Korda won the third leg of the career grand slam, with a close victory at the U.S. Women’s Open. Korda defeated Gaby Lopez and Charley hull by one stroke and was just a couple millimeters away from having her final putt lip out. Still, this put her in obvious clear position to win the Annika Major Award.
Then came the rise of Haeran Ryu, who won her first major at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, an event Korda finished ninth in. Ryu followed that up with a win at the Evian Championship, where Korda missed the cut.
It was pretty neck and neck heading into the AIG Women’s Open, where Ryu was in contention all week unlike Korda. A final round 68 though vaulted Korda up the leaderboard into a tie for fourth place. Ryu still grabbed a top-10 finish at sixth, but it wasn’t enough to win this prize.
The Rolex Annika Major Award was established in 2014 and is designed to honor the player who performs the best over the course of the five major championships. Players must win one major in order to be eligible. Korda previously won the award in 2024 and joins Minjee Lee as the only players to win it multiple times.
About the Author
