After winning seven times on tour, including her second major, and winning the LPGA Tour Player of the Year in 2024, Nelly Korda was looking to start this year off right. She made a run in her first tournament and secured a second-place finish to start off 2025.
At the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, Korda shot a 7-under 65 in the final round to secure the finish. It was her fifth top-five at the kickoff tournament for the LPGA Tour. It is an impressive start to the year for the superstar golfer.
She made 24 birdies through four rounds, including nine in the final round. She shot a 67 in the third round and tallied only one bogey on Saturday. Unfortunately, in the end, she came up just a little bit shy of overtaking A Lim Kim who won the tournament by two strokes.
“This is what I love about golf, being in the hunt on a Sunday going down the back nine," she said about the finish. “I played well. I wish I had a couple of those putts back this week. I three-putted nine twice for par, and when you think about it that way, you're never going to be happy with the outcome. But I think first week back, get into contention and play well, there is never anything bad about it."
The second-place finish secured Nelly Korda her sixth consecutive top-five
That includes her victory at the Annika Driven by Gainbridge in November. That tournament helped raise Korda's profile as she was paired during the Pro-Am with basketball superstar, Caitlin Clark.
Her finish at the Hilton Grand was better than last season's. During the tournament a year ago, she finished in a tie for 16th. Her best round came in the second when she shot a 4-under 69 on the day.
It would be the only tournament that she would not win at the start of 2024 until the Cognizant Founders Cup in early May. This season, the Founders Cup is coming up this weekend and Korda will look to use her momentum to claim the top prize this time around.
Her finish should give her the confidence to take on 2025 in the same way as she did in 2024. It should also be a warning to the rest of the tour. When Korda's name is on the leaderboard on a Sunday, it may be starting to have echoes of how it felt for players when Tiger Woods was making his push as well. Look for Nelly Korda to be in the running again this weekend.