One day after Nelly Korda received the key to the city of Bradenton, Florida, where she was born and raised and still lives, the No. 1 player in the world was named LPGA Rolex Player of the Year.
Korda took questions from several youngsters at Bradenton City Hall on Monday night, where Nov. 2, 2026, was proclaimed “Nelly Korda Day” in Bradenton.
It's been a banner year for Korda, 28, who clinched the tour's POY title with three events still remaining on the 2026 schedule. A four-time winner this season, including two majors, Korda locked up the award mathematically with 239 points. She holds a 63-point lead over another two-time major winner this season, Haeran Ryu, who is signed up to play in two more events this year. (A victory is worth 30
points.)
Japan's Miyu Yamashita, who won her third title of the season last week in Malaysia, sits third with 156 points while Jeeno Thitikul, a four-time winner in 2026, ranks fourth with 155.
Korda, who now owns 19 career titles, won her first LPGA Player of the Year award in 2024. The title comes with an LPGA Hall of Fame point, giving Korda 26 of the 27 needed to qualify.
Korda leads the tour in money ($6,220,214) and scoring (69.38), though she is ineligible for the Vare Trophy and its Hall of Fame point because she won't meet the minimum number of rounds.
She has played in 15 total events this season, posting 10 top 10s. In her first six starts of the season, she never finished outside the top 2.
Korda opened the season with a victory at the weather-shortened Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and then took a six-week break. She came back to finish runner-up three times before cruising to a five-shot victory at the Chevron Championship, the first major of the season.
“She played incredible through all the crap that people have talked about her not being able to finish the last couple weeks or always finishing second,” said older sister Jessica Korda after taking the celebratory leap with the family. “She completely put it out of her mind and stuck to her own game and kind of showed everybody, like, stuff you. We always love that.”
The next week, she won in Mexico at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba by four strokes.
In early June, at historic Riviera Country Club, Korda won the title she wanted most: U.S. Women's Open.
And she did it with less than her "B game."
“I feel like I’m in a dream,” she said after watching a 3-footer lip in rather than out on the 72nd hole. “I just can’t even explain how much this means to me.”
In addition to her two wins at the majors, she took a share of fourth at the AIG Women's British Open and a share of eighth at the KPMG Women's PGA.
After a two-month break from competition, Korda will tee it up next week at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican in Belleair, Florida, for the penultimate event of the season on the LPGA.
Beth Ann Nichols is a senior writer for Golfweek covering the LPGA and all things women's golf. Follow her on X/Twitter (@GolfweekNichols).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Nelly Korda clinches LPGA Player of the Year Award for a second time
