Nelly Korda made a valiant effort at making history Sunday in the final round of the AIG Women’s Open.
Needing a victory to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame with her third major tournament win this season and fifth of her career, the top-ranked women’s golfer fired a 3-under 68. Korda closed with a long putt for birdie on the 18th after opening the final round with consecutive birdies at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England.
She finished at 2-under for the tournament, which was a story of alternating rounds for the American. Korda opened with a 2-over 73 on Thusday but got back in contention with a 68 in the second round.
Nelly Korda with a birdie at the last 👀
— AIG Women’s Open (@AIGWomensOpen) August 2, 2026
As it stands, she has the lead in the clubhouse at -2.
📺 https://t.co/WmL2h6e9ZE pic.twitter.com/PfkVg7fDhj
But she then shot another 73 on Saturday in a third round that included a pair of double bogeys. A 6 on the final hole dropped her eight shots off the lead entering Sunday’s final roud.
After capturing the Chevron Championship and U.S. Women’s Open, Korda, who turned 28 last Tuesday, was trying to become the first woman with to win three majors in a season since Inbee Park in 2013.
But as she admitted last week, she still is adapating to links golf, the sport’s orginal and traditional style that is a hallmark of the sandy and firm courses in England, Scotland and Ireland.
“I would say I have a little bit of a love/hate relationship with it, depending on the bounces that I get,” Korda said in a news conference last week. “It can get a lot sometimes when like you feel like you’re hitting it good and then you kind of get really bad bounces.”
She also is adapting to where the fifth and final major in women’s golf falls on the schedule.
“I feel like sometimes with it being the fifth major and coming off a lot of condensed majors in a packed schedule, I feel like you’re a little bit more on edge because you’ve been in these high pressure moments throughout this middle part of the year,” she said. “We’re coming off a big part in our season.
“So I always feel like maybe I’m a little bit more tired so the bad bounces get to me a little bit mentally. So I’m just trying to really not get into that state of mind, and control what I can control. Obviously sometimes it’s easier than others. It’s easy to say; harder to do.”
Korda found success with hitting the reset button durig a successful 2026 season that followed a winless 2025. Re-establishing herself as the world’s top player accenuated her role as the sport’s most visible star, and Korda has grown comfortable with being on a pedestal.
“I think if you asked me two years ago I maybe would’ve lied up here and said I’m fine with it, but I think that I’m at a stage in my career and at a stage where I’m just going to be myself,” she said. “If people don’t like it, that’s fine. If that inspires the next generation, that’s great. That’s what I would like. I just had to learn that no one is going to make me go this direction, that direction. I’m going to go the direction I want and be very authentic. I feel like when I’m not it drains my battery a lot, of doing what I don’t want to do.
“I feel like I’ve kind of figured it out where I’m going to say yes to this because that’s what I want to do. If that grows the game and makes people watch me, I think that’s great. But I have had to learn that. I feel like in 2024, it was a lot at once, and I had to go through last year to even embrace it. Because I know like athletes, this isn’t our forever thing. We’re going to be here and the next generation will come and they will be inspiring the next generation. So I really have to embrace where I am and appreciate every moment.”
