LYTHAM ST. ANNES, ENGLAND – Nelly Korda put a 4-iron into the bag for the first time at a British Open this week at Royal Lytham. There won’t be many drivers off the tee for her at this bunkerfest. Maybe four or five, tops, she said.
Like many, Korda has a love/hate relationship with links golf, depending on the day and the bounces. It doesn’t help that it’s the fifth major of the year in a packed summer schedule. She typically finds herself more on edge at this point in the season.
“I would say with it being kind of in a condensed part of our schedule, I get pretty agitated,” she said, “and I think what I learned is I just need to take a step back and hit the reset button sometimes.”
Korda comes into the season’s final major at the 2026 AIG Women's
British Open with a chance to both qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame and complete the career grand slam. After a missed cut at the Amundi Evian Championship, her first time missing a weekend in two years, the world No. 1 took some time off in Prague and then headed to the ISPS Handa Scottish Open, where she finished on a high note to jump into the top 20.
“There will be weeks you just don't have it,” said Korda of France, “that's the reality of it."
Lydia Ko, the only member of the LPGA Hall of Fame who still competes on the tour regularly, marveled at the way Korda has been able to have two monster seasons in the span of three years. Korda won the first two majors of the season and is two points shy of the 27 required to enter the LPGA’s Hall. A major win would get her there.
“If we were in the same position, like a couple points away,” said Ko, “I would probably bet my money on her before me, to be honest.”
The Korda who finished runner-up at the Old Course in 2024 isn’t the same Korda who sat before the press on Wednesday in Lytham.
She’s more comfortable, more assertive and more forgiving of herself than she was during that first seven-win season.
On the eve of the British, Korda was asked if she’s comfortable being the face of the game or whether it feels like a burden.
“I think if you asked me two years ago, I maybe would've lied up here and said I'm fine with it,” said Korda, “but I think that I'm at a stage in my career, and at a stage where I'm just going to be myself. 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 I'm not going to, 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.”
Korda, who turned 28 on Tuesday, will play the first two rounds alongside Ko and Haeran Ryu, the South Korean who, incredibly, also won back-to-back majors in the span of three weeks. After Ryu won the Amundi Evian in a playoff over Brooke Henderson – after a third-round 60 – she went home to Korea to celebrate with friends and family and spend time with sponsors.
“Now I'm back to work, and still happy,” said a beaming Ryu, who likely leads the field in strokes-gained confidence.
While Korda talked about most players being on edge coming into this week, Ryu took off over a month from May to June for a minor surgery and came into the summer stretch relaxed and refreshed.
Only four players in the history of the LPGA have won three majors in the span of one season, with Inbee Park accomplishing the feat most recently in 2013. Babe Zaharias (1950), Pat Bradley (1986) and Mickey Wright (1961) round out the elite group.
Ryu was asked which player she enjoys watching the most on tour, and she picked her budding rival, Korda.
The two heavyweights will have a front-row seat to each other’s brilliance in the north of England, where the R&A will put a bow on golf’s major season at historic Lytham.
Beth Ann Nichols is a Golfweek senior reporter covering the LPGA and women's golf.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Like many, Nelly Korda has a love/hate relationship with links golf
