Nelly Korda is well and truly back to winning ways on the LPGA Tour, having just claimed her third career major title at The Chevron Championship.
Korda has returned to world number one following the success, which represents her second win of the 2026 season.
It comes in stark contrast to her 2025 campaign, where she failed to win on the LPGA Tour, with that drought remarkably following seven wins in 2024.
Korda has now shared what she has learned from last season coming into her 2026 season, which continues this week at the Riviera Maya Open.
Nelly Korda driven ‘nuts’ by trying to control what she couldn’t in 2025
When asked what last season taught her coming into this season, Korda told SportsCenter: “A lot, to be honest. One to not listen to the outside noise.
“Two is, I think where a lot of people get into trouble is they have an incredible year, and they try to do something to get even better.
“They almost like reinvent the wheel. And I think that’s where people get into trouble, where they lose their game.
“And I just kind of… I rode out the year. It was kind of a weird one where a centimeter here and there would have made such a big difference.
“It would have probably turned out to be a title here and there. But it just didn’t go my way. And sometimes that’s just life. It’s not even just sport.
“That’s just life, and you have to just kind of ride it out, continue doing what you want to do and put your head down and work.
“That’s like the one thing that I took out of last year is like, control what you can control, don’t try to push too much. And I think I was just trying to control what I couldn’t control, and it was driving me nuts.
“And that was kind of the biggest mindset change going into this year, is like, I’m just going to control what I can control.
“Can’t control the weather, but I can control the effort that I put into every single day, my practice, and then also my mentality.”
Nelly Korda shares her biggest motivators after winning The Chevron Championship
The shift in mentality has been working wonders for the American in 2026 thus far, with further success now very much possible this week.
She is the in-form player on the LPGA Tour, having finished no worse than T2 in her five starts this season.
And worryingly for her rivals, she believes she is far from finished, with Korda sharing her motivation after being asked to compare her relief versus hunger levels after The Chevron Championship success.
“Yeah, I think last year was tough in that aspect of maybe I did listen to the outside noise a little bit,” Korda told All Square on Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio.
“But it was also such a learning experience, where it’s like I never want to listen to that ever again and I never will.
“So for me, it’s just about I think the question that I asked myself was, why am I playing this game, like what motivates me? What do I want to do?
“And what motivates me is I want to play against let’s say [Kim] Hyo-joo. She beat me in two tournaments in a row at the beginning of the year, and that motivates me.
“Her beating me, that competition, that head-to-head, and playing in these tournaments, playing the back nine on a Sunday, being in contention in the final group.
“That’s what motivates me. I had to just ask myself what my why was, and what really I wanted to do with my career.
“Did I want to go out and chase the newspapers or chase the amazing things that come with being a star, or did I want to just play golf and be in contention, and not listen to the critics?
“That’s kind of like the question that I had to ask myself, and at the end of the day I have such an amazing team, and we always refer to it like a bubble where I can lean on my parents, my sister, anyone on this team and I know that no matter the ups and downs or the outside noise, I can just go to them and they’re going to reassure me of who I am and what I need to.”
After a five-shot win at Memorial Park in Houston, the world number one is now in Playa del Carmen chasing an 18th LPGA Tour title.
The American has been paired with Akie Iwai and Gaby Lopez for round one of the tournament, where Chizzy Iwai is out to defend her trophy.
Read more:
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