Nelly Korda secures best U.S. Women's Open result but admits that it still 'stings'

Nelly Korda has categorized her relationship with the U.S. Women’s Open as "complicated." She believes she’s more emotional about this major because the first time she played in it she was 14. She’s seen it break her heart, like in 2024 when she won a mystifying six of the seven events leading up to it, opened with an 80, and missed the cut. She’s said it's the major she most wants to win. When it was all over at Erin Hills, Korda was close, but still wasn’t going home with the trophy. She tied for second place, two shots behind Sweden's Maja Stark, a first-time major winner.

“It does sting to come up short, but at the end of the day, the work that I've been putting in, especially throughout the start of the season, to test it on conditions like the U.S. Women's Open where you're tested mentally, you're testing your game in every department, and to play pretty solid golf shows that I've been working hard,” Korda said. “I'll continue doing that and hopefully trend in the correct direction.”

Korda did a lot right en route to her best finish at a U.S. Women’s Open. She drove it beautifully and recorded strong approach stats each round—the best coming on Friday when she gained more than 2.5 strokes on the field in approach.

But the putter held her back. She lost .74 strokes to the field on Sunday, two strokes on Saturday, over a stroke on Friday, and .78 strokes on Thursday. At one point on the Sunday television broadcast they said that Korda had missed three putts within five feet during the week.

“I hit it so good off the tee. I wasn't in one bunker this week,” Korda said. “I was just striking it really well. When you strike it really well and you give yourself so many opportunities, it does get at the end of the day frustrating when it comes down to your putting, right? I wasn't hitting bad putts. Not at all. I wasn't pushing them. I wasn't pulling them.”

It wasn’t easy to make putts at Erin Hills, especially over the weekend. Each day, the greens became more difficult, the extreme undulations giving up few birdies down the stretch.

Korda says that the U.S. Women’s Open is unique in the way it puts stress on every part of your game. In doing that, it exposes weaknesses in a way that other tournaments don’t.

“I feel like I actually learn a lot about myself and my game and where I need to improve playing the U.S. Women's Open because it does test every part of your game,” Korda said.

From the way Korda spoke after the round, it’s apparent she likes what she saw from her game in this four-day pressure cooker.

“I was hitting it so good off the tee. I was very happy with my game,” Korda said. “Finally kind of saw my chipping trend in the right direction as well. I was kind of struggling a little about landing positions and roll-outs for the start of the year, but I was really confident with everything around the greens as well.”

As she spoke about the week and how she feels about the state of her game, the pain of this loss was obvious. After winning five in a row and a total of seven tournaments in 2024, she’s seen what she’s capable of doing. Having won so many times, so recently, second place is rarely of any comfort. And though that means she’s going to hurt, it also means she’ll continue to be great. Discomfort can be fuel.

“But it's also super motivating,” Korda said. “It's definitely motivating to see where my game's at, but hopefully I can continue trending in the right direction for a long season ahead.”

For Korda, the U.S Women’s Open continues to be a complicated week on the calendar. She leaves Erin Hills both frustrated and pleased. Disappointed and motivated. But the underlying message from this championship is encouraging. It didn’t come together fully this time. But many essential pieces were in place.

“I just need to continue knocking on the door,” Korda said. “And hopefully it will open.”