World No. 1 Nelly Korda clocked her best finish of the 2025 season at this weekend's US Women's Open, tying Japan's No. 14 Rio Takeda for second place as the decorated US golfer continues to hunt her first LPGA Tour win of the year.
"When you come so close and you kind of feel that adrenaline coming down 18, the one thing that you want to do is hold the trophy at the end of the day," Korda said afterwards. "And I'm not."
That said, Korda's second-place finish marks her best showing yet at the US Women's Open, and a significant boost from last year's edition in which she failed to make the cut following an 80-stroke opening round.
"To have that showing last year definitely put a dagger into my heart, but that's just golf," the 26-year-old said after the tournament. "You're going to lose more than you win a majority of the time."
"I feel like I actually learn a lot about myself and my game and where I need to improve playing the US Women's Open because it does test every part of your game," Korda added.
Stark, Cooper climb leaderboard at US Women's Open
While the second-place finish earned Korda and Takeda each a check for $1,052,621, it was Sweden's No. 6 Maja Stark whose two-shot lead had her walking away with both her first career major trophy and the $2.4 million winner’s purse — the largest payday in the sport.
"It feels so surreal, and it felt like it was so far away just a couple of weeks ago," said the 25-year-old after claiming the title.
Notably, another US golfer walked away with a large paycheck, as world No. 155 Hailee Cooper finished the tournament tied for seventh to take home $358,004.
The 25-year-old, who competes on the developmental Epson Tour in hopes of earning LPGA membership, banked just under $50,000 in her 2025 play before becoming the second-best US finisher in the 2025 US Women's Open on Sunday — Cooper's first-ever LPGA Tour event as a pro.
"I walked out and [the officials] go, 'So you want to see the money?'" Cooper said about her Top 10 finish. "I walked up and I immediately started crying when I saw the numbers. I'm like, 'Oh, gosh, there are six of them.'"
"It's life changing for sure," she explained. "It makes professional golf a lot easier financially now, so it will be really nice."
The LPGA Tour's largest purse is back on the line, as the 2025 US Women's Open hits the links at Wisconsin's Erin Hills Golf Course on Thursday.
The oldest of the Tour's five major championships, the US Women's Open is now in its 80th year.
In partnership with tournament sponsor Ally, the event's $12 million overall prize money makes it the most lucrative competition in women's golf, with a $2.4 million check going to the eventual winner.
World No. 35 Yuka Saso of Japan, the 2021 and 2024 US Women's Open champion, is back to defend her title alongside eight other former tournament winners, including 2023 victor and current No. 38 Allisen Corpuz (USA) and 2022 champ No. 22 Minjee Lee (Australia).
Also vying for this year's trophy are all 12 2025 LPGA Tour victors, headlined by world No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul (Thailand) and No. 3 Lydia Ko (New Zealand), as well as the two title-winners from the US — No. 11 Angel Yin and No. 18 Yealimi Noh.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda leads 24 of the sport's Top 25 players on the 2025 US Women's Open course, as the US star still searches for her first victory of the season.
How to watch the US Women's Open
The US Women's Open tees off at 6:45 AM ET on Thursday, with coverage of the LPGA major kicking off at 12 PM ET across USA Network and Peacock.
Sunday's championship-winning final round will air live beginnning at 2 PM ET on NBC.
The LPGA is back on the East Coast with the 2025 Mizuho Americas Open teeing off in New Jersey on Thursday, with defending champ Nelly Korda on the hunt for her first win of the year.
After an unprecedented 2024 run, the world No. 1 golfer has struggled to regain her consistency this season, despite strong individual rounds.
"I've had some really good rounds, and some iffy rounds as well," the 26-year-old told reporters earlier this week. "But I think that's just the game of golf — it's life, it's up, it's down, it's never going to be easy. And when you think you've got it figured out, it's going to humble you very quickly."
Korda isn't alone in her 2025 Americas Open pursuit, as fellow US star Rose Zhang makes her return to the links this week — despite battling a lingering neck injury.
The world No. 26 golfer, who turns 22 years old at the end of this month, won the inaugural Americas Open in her 2023 pro debut, but sat out last month's Chevron Championship — the year's first major — citing neck discomfort.
"I will say that I'm pain-free right now, which I'm very thankful for," Zhang told Golf Digest. "I never realized, and obviously it goes unsaid, but the neck is very important for anything that you do."
In addition to another chance to get back on course, Korda and Zhang will also be chasing the lion's share of the four-day tournament's $3 million purse — one of the largest non-major prize pools on the LPGA schedule.
Notably, the Americas Open follows a unique format, inviting 24 top American Junior Golf Association players to tee off alongside the LPGA Tour's 120 best at Liberty National Golf Club.
How to watch the 2025 Mizuho Americas Open
Coverage of the 2025 Mizuho Americas Open starts at 11 AM ET on Thursday.
The Golf Channel will stream the tournament through Sunday morning, with the competition's final round airing live at 1 PM ET on Sunday on CBS.
The LPGA season's first Grand Slam tees off in Texas on Thursday, when the world's top golfers will compete for a piece of the $8 million purse at the 2025 Chevron Championship.
After a record-breaking 2024 run, world No. 1 Nelly Korda enters her 10th Chevron Championship as the tournament's reigning champion, though the 26-year-old US star has yet to win a major event this year.
Korda will be attempting to hold off some of the sport's biggest names this weekend, as the 132-player field includes 24 of the world's top 25 golfers and all eight champions from the 2025 LPGA Tour so far.
Joining Korda in seeking another victory at the event are the annual tournament's 2023 winner, world No. 4 Lilia Vu, and 2022 champion No. 53 Jennifer Kupcho.
Both Korda and Vu are returning to play after dealing with lingering injuries, while fellow US golfer Kupcho hasn't won an LPGA Tour event since July 2022.
Other US players to watch include No. 8 Lauren Coughlin, fresh off a third-place finish at the 2025 LA Championship, and No. 58 Lexi Thompson, with the 2014 Chevron champion emerging from retirement to compete in her first tournament of 2025.
Rising international stars like Sweden's No. 42 Ingrid Lindblad as well as Japan's No. 17 Rio Takeda and twin sisters No. 18 Akie and No. 41 Chisato Iwai are also favorites to claim the 2025 Chevron trophy.
How to watch the 2025 Chevron Championship
The 2025 Chevron Championship tees off on Thursday at 8:15 AM ET.
Select live coverage of the four-day tournament will air across ESPN+, The Golf Channel, and NBC/Peacock.
Before the LPGA’s biggest names gear up for next week’s Chevron Championship, many are turning to this week's 2025 JM Eagle LA Championship for a chance to sharpen their skills — and pad their bank accounts.
A total of $3.75 million is on the line in Southern California, where 144 of the world's top golfers will take aim at a piece of one of the largest non-major purses on the LPGA Tour.
The stars will be out in full force when the LA Championship's first round begins on Thursday, including 16 of the world's Top 25 golfers, led by No. 1 Nelly Korda in her first return to El Caballero since 2023.
After sitting out several late-season 2024 tournaments with a neck injury, Korda has maintained her fitness through 2025, taking a planned seven-week break before rejoining the Tour last month.
"I kind of have the first part of [the] year until Chevron kind of set," Korda told reporters about her 2025 schedule in January. "After that, it'll be just how my body is feeling."
Defending champ Hannah Green uses third title hunt to give back
While Korda is sure to draw crowds, all eyes will be on Australia’s Hannah Green as the world No. 5 golfer attempts to secure a third straight LA Championship title.
Green is already off to a strong start this year, earning two top 10 finishes in her first four 2025 tournaments.
The reigning champion is also giving back, pledging $500 for every birdie and $1,000 for each eagle she makes this week to the Los Angeles Fireman's Relief Association in the wake of January's destructive wildfires.
"California has been such a special place to my heart, so I want to give back in any way possible," the 28-year-old explained.
How to watch the LPGA Tour at the 2025 LA Championship
The first round of the 2025 JM Eagle LA Championship tees off on Thursday morning.
Coverage of each of the tournament's four rounds will air daily at 6 PM ET on The Golf Channel.
After a planned seven-week break from the LPGA Tour, world No. 1 golfer Nelly Korda is back in action, with the US star beginning her 2024 title defense at the 2025 Ford Championship on Thursday afternoon.
While last year’s inaugural event saw Korda in the midst of a historic five-tournament winning streak, the 26-year-old has been more strategic with her participation this year, sitting out the tour’s recent Asia swing after kicking off her 2025 campaign with two Top 10 finishes.
"I mean, it’s always nice to take time off where you’re not injured and you're kind of trying to hopefully become better and catch up on maybe some lost time," she told Golfweek on Wednesday.
Incorporating rest is a strategy world No. 3 Lydia Ko is also employing this year, as the New Zealander travels to the Phoenix, Arizona, event after a three-week break of her own. Ko is also packing winning momentum in her golf bag this weekend, having snagged her 23rd career title at the 2025 HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore on March 2nd.
Joining Korda and Ko on this weekend's Ford Championship links are all 10 of the LPGA's top-ranked golfers, who will be competing together for the first time this year at the event.
That means Australia's world No. 5 Hannah Green, the US star No. 6 Lilia Vu, and South Korea standout No. 8 Jin Young Ko will all be competing for a chunk of the $2.25 million purse.
Top LPGA golfers take aim at low-scoring history
With Phoenix's warm climate known for producing low golf scores, this weekend's at the 2025 Ford Championship athletes will also take a swing at history by chasing the near-impossible single-round score of 59.
"That's kind of like the trend of golf here in Arizona," said Korda about the area's ideal setting for the sport. "I mean, the weather is usually perfect. The grass is usually perfect as well. So that all sets up for low scoring ability, and then it's hot, so it flies really far. So the par 5s are pretty reachable."
Korda once came close to the elusive score during her 2021 Olympic gold medal-winning run in Tokyo, though a few extra late swings saw her finish the round at 62.
"I came pretty close at the Olympics, then I doubled my last one," she explained. "It was like starting to creep into my head and I was like, yeah, I don't even think about it, no."
If any of this weekend's LPGA stars do snag a sub-60 round, they'll become just the second LPGA player to ever do so, joining former pro Annika Sörenstam, whose historic 59 came in Phoenix in 2001.
How to watch Nelly Korda at the 2025 Ford Championship
Running through Sunday's fourth and final round, the 2025 Ford Championship tees off on Thursday, with streaming coverage beginning at 6 PM ET and broadcast coverage airing at 7 PM ET.
All rounds of the tournament will air on the Golf Channel.
After the second day of competition, Korean golfer A Lim Kim holds a one-stroke lead at the LPGA Tour's HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore — with New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim, and the UK’s Charley Hull hot on her heels.
World No. 9 Hull kept pace in second after the first day of competition, but No. 3 Ko pulled ahead to sit one stroke behind No. 34 A Lim Kim after two days of play.
Meanwhile, No. 29 Hyo Joo Kim sliced seven strokes off her first-round performance to pull level with Hull in third place after a strong second round.
The USA's top contenders thus far are No. 69 Sarah Schmelzel and recently minted first-time LPGA champion No. 30 Yealimi Noh, both of whom currently sit one stroke behind Hull in a five-way tie for fifth place.
Elite LPGA golfers lock in on high-stakes battle
The field in Singapore features nine of the world’s Top-10 players and 13 of the Top 15, with the only top-ranked absences coming from US stars No. 1 Nelly Korda and No. 15 Rose Zhang.
Korda is sitting out the Asia leg of the LPGA Tour for the second year in a row. She will also miss the upcoming tournaments in Thailand and China before making a scheduled return at Arizona's Ford Championship in late March.
Korda’s absence hasn’t lightened the Women's World Championship competition, however, as the tournament’s $1.8 million purse remains in close contention halfway through the event's four rounds.
"I don’t think I typically play really well on this golf course and I thought this year would be a good year to kind of turn that around," reigning Olympic gold medalist Ko told reporters following the second round.
"The scores haven’t really been that low these past couple days," she added. "I'm just trying to focus on me and hopefully just keep climbing up the leaderboard."
How to watch the LPGA Tour at the Women's World Championship
The third round of the LPGA Tour's 2025 HSBC Women’s World Championship tees off at 8:30 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage on the Golf Channel.
After four days of stiff competition, the 2025 Founders Cup yielded a first-time LPGA Tour winner on Sunday as US golfer Yealimi Noh surged to victory on strong back-nine play in Bradenton, Florida.
The world No. 32-ranked Noh kicked off her sixth season with the LPGA by lifting her first trophy in her 111th start.
In just two holes on Sunday, the 23-year-old flipped a one-shot deficit into a three-shot lead, eventually claiming the $300,000 championship check with an overall 21-under-par performance.
"I always knew it would happen and it was a matter of time," Noh told reporters after her win. "To really get it done, and especially in the first tournament of the year, is really nice."
Noh, who earned a captain's nod in the 2021 Solheim Cup, is officially on an upswing. After less successful 2022 and 2023 seasons, she made 21 cuts across her 25 LPGA starts in 2024, helping fuel last weekend's blockbuster 2025 debut.
"Having a lot of better results and getting my confidence back and contending a few times last season really helped me carry that out through the winter and just really prepare for this week," she explained. "[I] just felt really ready — this was going to be my year and week."
Founders Cup sees additional standout performances
Just behind Noh on last weekend's leaderboard is No. 7 Jin Young Ko. The South Korean star's narrow lead fell when she made her first bogeys of the competition, logging two back-to-back on Sunday.
The 15-time LPGA title-winner capped her tournament four strokes back from Noh, with US golfer and world No. 17 Megan Khang one stroke behind Ko in third place.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda finished tied for seventh place after capping her Founders Cup outing nine shots behind Noh.
The US star will next take a seven-week break, opting to sit out the upcoming trio of LPGA Tour stops in Asia. Korda will instead continue to search for her first victory of 2025 at the end of March, when she tees off at the Ford Championship in Chandler, Arizona.
US golf star Nelly Korda came out swinging this weekend, taking second place at the Tournament of Champions to launch her 2025 LPGA campaign.
The world No. 1 narrowly fell to tournament winner No. 35 A Lim Kim, with the South Korean standout picking up her third career LPGA win and her second since November 2024. Her 20-under-par result also marked her second straight win in which she never trailed at the end of any round.
Korda pulled within one stroke of Kim on the back nine, before the eventual champion surged ahead with three birdies in her last four holes. With her 7-under Sunday performance, Korda finished the tournament at an impressive 18-under.
The result marked Korda's fifth-straight Top 5 finish, a streak that dates back to last August's AIG Women's Open.
"This is what I love about golf — being in the hunt on a Sunday going down the back nine," an upbeat Korda told reporters after her final round. "I'm never going to complain finishing second in a tournament and giving it a run... There are definitely a couple putts I would like to have back, but overall I think I'm very happy with this week and excited for next week."
Next up: Korda's home course advantage
The LPGA next lands in Korda's hometown of Bradenton, Florida, for the Founders Cup, which tees off on Thursday.
That home course advantage, as well as the fact that Korda won the Drive On Championship on those links last season, makes her the tournament's unofficial favorite this year.
Fellow US star and world No. 14 Rose Zhang is the Founders Cup's defending champion, with her win snapping Korda's historic five-tournament win streak last year. That said, the 2024 edition took place at New Jersey's Upper Montclair Country Club, so the Florida relocation removes the course familiarity that would normally give the reigning title-holder an assumed edge.
Korda's preparation for the upcoming competition will be intentionally light, as she doesn't normally practice during tournament weeks.
"Definitely some areas where I feel like I need to kind of tighten up some loose ends," Korda said on Sunday. “Overall, I think I can’t complain about the state of my golf game right now.”
Unlike her jam-packed season start last year, this week's even will be Korda's last before a seven-week pause. She has opted out of three upcoming tournaments — the Honda LPGA Thailand, the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore, or the Blue Bay LPGA in China.
Korda will instead return to play at the end of March, when the Ford Championship tees off in Chandler, Arizona.
US golf star Nelly Korda will look to launch yet another historic run on Thursday, when the 2025 LPGA season kicks off at the Tournament of Champions in Florida.
Korda registered seven victories on the 2024 LPGA Tour, catapulting to No. 1 in the world rankings and taking home LPGA Tour Player of the Year.
Calling last season "very, very, very crazy," the 26-year-old tied an LPGA record with five of her wins coming in successive starts. The fifth victory came at the 2024 Chevron Championship, earning Korda the second major title of her career.
A fresh start for Korda as 2025 LPGA Tour begins
Despite aiming to continue her record run, Korda acknowledges that the 2025 LPGA season will present its own challenges.
"The field is different. There [are] different girls in the field. Weather is different. Golf course could be different. There are so many variabilities that just completely changes it," she told reporters on Tuesday.
Her first test takes place in Orlando. That's where Korda will enter her seventh Tournament of Champions — a competition she's yet to walk away from as a winner.
Following its 2019 launch, the annual four-day event is limited to players who've won major LPGA competitions in the last two years. Due in part to Korda's recent dominance, only 32 professional golfers fit this year's criteria, including defending title-holder and world No. 2 Lydia Ko and 2024 runner-up Alexa Pano.
Also in this weekend's field are US stars No. 5 Lilia Vu, No. 14 Rose Zhang, No. 15 Lauren Coughlin, No. 20 Angel Yin, and No. 21 Megan Khang.
The pro competition will also run concurrently with a 72-hole celebrity contest that includes USWNT icon Brandi Chastain, among others.
"It’s a different, relaxed vibe," Korda said about the tournament. "And no better way to start off the year than playing in this event."
How to watch the LPGA Tournament of Champions this weekend
The 2025 Tournament of Champions starts at 11:30 AM ET on Thursday. Live coverage of the competition will air across NBC networks.