NAPLES — The bar has been set high for Nelly Korda.
Defending LPGA Player of the Year. Fifteen LPGA Tour wins. Two-time major winner. More than 100 weeks as the No. 1 ranked woman in the world. Top 10 in the career money list. A global brand.
And just four months removed from her 27th birthday.
Which is why Korda, the Bradenton resident, struggles to analyze a 2025 season in which more than 90 percent of the women on the LPGA Tour would celebrate.
Korda was coming off a 2024 season in which she won seven events. That included a stretch of five in a row that her sister Jessica, a Jupiter resident and six-time winner on the LPGA Tour, called “insanity” and “not normal.”
One year later, Korda opened the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship at Tiberon seeking her first win of the 2025 season. She shot a 1-under 71 in the first round, seven shots behind leader, and playing partner, Somi Lee.
Yet every part of her game, aside from the trophies hoisted, has challenged, if not surpassed, her historical 2024 season.
Which has Korda feeling both fulfilled or frustrated with her 2025 season.
“It’s definitely been an interesting year,” said Korda, who fell to No. 2 in the world behind Jeeno Thitikul in August. “There has been good. There has been flashes of really good. There has been flashes of I don’t know what just happened.
“But, yeah, it definitely sucks in a way that I didn’t get to raise a trophy.”
The stats are somewhat confounding considering the most glaring: tournaments won.
Entering the Tour Championship, Korda is top 5 in scoring average per round (2), strokes gained off the tee (1), strokes gained total (2) and strokes gained tee to green (4).
In those same categories in 2024, a year in which she won seven more times than in 2025, Korda was 2nd, 2nd, 1st and 3rd, respectively.
Additionally, she had a better year in strokes gained approach, putting and driving distance. While slipping in strokes gained around green, driving accuracy and greens in regulation.
“I’m not disappointed with the season,” she said. “Obviously, I would’ve loved to raise a couple of trophies. When it comes down to my stats and the way my body has felt, it’s been amazing. Since 2021, I think I’ve been out for a couple months every single year with injuries.
“At the end of the day, you can spin it in a very positive way of like, ‘okay, I need to sit down and I need to improve myself to keep up with all the good play out here.’ It’s honestly a fine line.”
Nelly Korda ‘always looking’ for ways to improve body, game
Korda, in her ninth year on tour, is not questioning her approach or commitment when analyzing why that trophy moment alluded her. In fact, just the opposite. She is more dedicated to her craft than ever, saying she thinks about it more and more.
“Practice, diligence, body work, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “If there is something new out there that could improve my body, if there is a device that can help me with my practice, I will be doing it. I’m always looking.”
What she learned during a season that was somewhat of an enigma is it’s OK to lean on others “when stuff isn’t going well.”
People like her father, Petr, a former world No. 2 in men’s tennis; and sister Jessica; caddie Jason McDede, swing instructor Jamie Mulligan, short-game coach David Whelan and physio coach Kim Baughman.
They are at her call. Arriving early if she wants to arrive early. For extra practice. For calls, texts. Bouncing off ideas and just listening, like after The Annika, when Korda was disappointed with the week in which she was 9-under and tied for 15th.
“I talked to my team and they’re like, ‘well, this improved from the last time you played and this improved from the last time you played,’ ” she said.
“You receive a lot more criticism when you’re on top of the game and having a tight-knit circle, you’re very grateful for the people you have around. The circle does get a little smaller, but I think I have an amazing circle.”
Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Nellie Korda has seven fewer titles, but nearly as good a season in 2025 as 2024 | D’Angelo
Reporting by Tom D’Angelo, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
