Nelly Korda Matches Annika Sorenstam’s Historic Start, Wins Third Title of 2026 at Riviera Maya Open

Key facts

• Korda won the Riviera Maya Open by four shots at 17-under 271, her third victory in six starts this season.
• She became the first player since Annika Sorenstam in 2001 to begin a season with six consecutive top-2 finishes.
• Korda is the youngest American to reach 18 career LPGA wins since Nancy Lopez in 1980.
• She earned 23 LPGA Hall of Fame points, four short of the 27 required for induction.
• Korda went 60 consecutive holes without a bogey, a streak that ended on the 18th hole of the final round.
• The $2.5 million event at El Camaleón Golf Course in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, saw Korda shatter the 54-hole scoring record by seven shots.
• Korda’s 36-hole total of 130 at the Chevron Championship was the lowest in LPGA major history (excluding the Amundi Evian Championship).

A Dominant Start to the Season

Nelly Korda has finished no worse than second in all six LPGA events she has played this season, winning three of them. On Sunday at the Riviera Maya Open in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, she delivered a four-shot victory at 17-under 271, cruising to the finish despite a chaotic final hole. The win came one week after she captured the Chevron Championship, her third career major, by five strokes. Korda entered the final round with a three-shot lead and quickly extinguished any doubt. She holed a 12-foot eagle putt from the collar on the par-5 fifth, followed with a 10-foot birdie from the fringe on the sixth, and hit a lob wedge to four feet for birdie on the seventh. That three-hole burst stretched her lead to seven shots. From the eighth through the 17th, she rattled off 10 straight pars, effectively putting the tournament out of reach.

History in the Making

With the victory, Korda became the first player since Annika Sorenstam in 2001 to start a season with six consecutive top-2 finishes. Her 2026 record reads: 1st, 2nd, 2nd, T2, 1st, 1st. She also became the youngest American to reach 18 career LPGA wins since Nancy Lopez achieved the feat in 1980 at age 23. Korda turned 27 last July. Korda now has 23 of the 27 points needed for LPGA Hall of Fame induction. She is projected to return to world No. 1 on Monday, usurping Jeeno Thitikul for the first time since August 2025. Korda previously held the top spot for more than a year between March 2024 and August 2025.

A Week of Records at Mayakoba

The Riviera Maya Open, which launched only in 2025, saw Korda rewrite its record book before the trophy was handed out. She opened with back-to-back 67s, giving her a 54-hole total of 14-under — seven shots better than the previous tournament benchmark set by Japanese rookie Chisato Iwai a year ago. The 54-hole scoring record was barely a year old. Korda’s bogey-free streak reached 60 consecutive holes before it ended on the 18th hole of the final round. There, she drove into the jungle, hit a provisional into a bunker, then flew her next shot over the green into the gallery. She chipped to 20 feet and made the putt for bogey, her second of the tournament. “It’s golf,” she told Karen Stupples afterward. “On the last hole here, I was humbled by golf there.”

The Chevron Championship: A Wire-to-Wire Major

A week earlier, Korda won the Chevron Championship at Houston’s Memorial Park in wire-to-wire fashion. She carded identical 65s on Thursday and Friday, posting a 36-hole total of 130 — the lowest in LPGA major history, excluding the Amundi Evian Championship. It was the first time in her career she had opened a major with two 65s. She slowed over the weekend with matching 70s but never relinquished her five-shot lead, winning at 18-under. “That was a hard weekend,” Korda said. “Having that big of a lead, it’s not easy. It was definitely one of the hardest things I’ve had to do mentally.” After the final putt, she cannonballed into the temporary pool near the 18th green, continuing the major’s storied tradition at its new home.

Context: A Winless 2025 and a Resurgence

Korda’s 2026 dominance stands in stark contrast to her 2025 season, when she did not win a single event despite playing well by most standards. Brandel Chamblee called it the best winless season on the LPGA Tour. In 2024, Korda won five consecutive events — a feat matched only by Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05 — and finished with seven wins, the first player to reach that number since Yani Tseng in 2011 and the first American since 1990. Korda’s decision to play in Mexico after her major win was deliberate. “Whatever I set my heart to,” she said pre-tournament. “I just love competing and I love being out here competing. I’m always striving to be better and to contend in every major, every tournament.” She added, “Even if you get beat, it doesn’t matter. That’s kind of what motivates me to continuously put myself in that position.”

What Comes Next

Korda will take next week off to rest before heading to Cincinnati for the Kroger Queen City Championship. Her next major is the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club. She now has 18 career LPGA wins and is four Hall of Fame points from induction. Arpichaya Yubol of Thailand finished second at the Riviera Maya Open, four shots back, after a double bogey on the 16th ended her challenge. Yu Liu of China was another shot behind. None had much of a chance against Korda, who has now matched Sorenstam’s historic start and shows no signs of slowing down. As she said after her win, “I’m just happy to be competing out here healthy, motivated. I’m so happy on the golf course. I’m happy off the golf course. I just think that, yes, I am living my best life for sure. But golf also humbles you, so I know that I need to enjoy these moments.”

The bottom line

• Korda has six consecutive top-2 finishes to start 2026, matching Annika Sorenstam’s 2001 feat.
• She is the youngest American to reach 18 LPGA wins since Nancy Lopez in 1980.
• Korda won the Chevron Championship wire-to-wire with a record 36-hole total of 130.
• She went 60 consecutive holes without a bogey at the Riviera Maya Open.
• Korda has 23 Hall of Fame points, four short of induction.
• After a winless 2025, Korda has reasserted herself as the dominant force in women’s golf.