Nelly Korda Is Still the Story. But Evian Is the Wild Card. Go to https://kachava.com and use code WINGO for 15% off your first order. The Evian Championship is the fourth major of the LPGA season, but it is not the last one. And even after everything that happened at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the conversation still starts in the same place. Nelly Korda. She is still the main story. The only question is whether Evian lets this week play out the way everyone expects. The Nelly Standard Justin Ray puts it in perspective right away. An eighth-place finish at a major somehow felt like a letdown for Nelly Korda. That says everything about the level she has been playing at. Through the first three majors of the season, Nelly has gained more than 46 strokes total. That is 16 more than anyone else. Gabby Lopez is second, and the gap is still massive. So yes, Nelly is the favorite. She is still the player everyone is chasing. And if you are asking which of the final two majors she is more likely to win, Justin still leans toward the AIG Women’s Open. Not because Nelly cannot win Evian. Because Evian has a way of turning normal Sundays into something completely different. Why Evian Is the Wild Card Justin went back and watched highlights from last year’s Evian Championship, which he admits is a perfectly normal thing for a person to do on a summer Sunday night. And honestly, he had a point. Last year’s finish was insane. Jeeno Thitikul had a 98.6 percent win probability standing on the 18th tee. Grace Kim made eagle in her group. Jeeno missed an eight-footer that would have won it outright. Then they went to a playoff. On the first playoff hole, Grace hit her approach into the water, took a drop, then holed out from off the green for birdie. Jeeno made her birdie putt to extend it. Then Grace came back and made eagle on 18 to win her first major. Eagle. Birdie from the water. Eagle. That is why this tournament is so hard to predict. It is beautiful. It is dramatic. And it has created enough Sunday chaos that Justin thinks it may be the hardest women’s major to forecast. Who Could Pop This Week Trey asks Justin for a name that could make sense if Evian gives us another unusual outcome. Justin points first to big-name players who could bounce back after missing the cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Charley Hull. Minjee Lee. Hannah Green. Players with enough talent to win anywhere if the week turns their way. Then there is Miyu Yamashita, the reigning AIG Women’s Open champion. She is 4-foot-11, does not overpower golf courses, and does incredible work in and around the greens. If you have never watched her play, Justin says she is worth your time. Lottie Woad is another name to watch, even if Justin admits that is not exactly a deep cut. She is fourth in the world and nearly won this event as an amateur last year. Gabby Lopez also deserves attention. She has built her schedule around the majors and has been one of the best major performers this season. Lauren Coughlin’s ball striking continues to show up too, even if the putting has come back down a little. That is the thing about Evian. It does not always give you the obvious answer. The Four-Major Question Then Trey gets to the bigger question. If Nelly wins the final two majors of the season, she would have four major championships in the same year. But because the LPGA has five majors, what do we actually call that? Justin’s answer is careful, because golf history is not as fixed as people sometimes think. The definition of a major has changed over time, especially in the women’s game. The du Maurier Championship used to be a major. The Titleholders Championship used to be a major. Evian became a major in 2013. Even on the men’s side, Jack Nicklaus was once described during a Masters broadcast as going for his 20th major because they were including his two U.S. Amateur wins. The point is simple: golf history changes. The labels change. The way we talk about records changes. So if Nelly wins four majors in a five-major season, maybe it is not a clean single-season Grand Slam. But it would still be one of the greatest major seasons the sport has ever seen. What Counts as a Major Anyway? Trey makes the point that there is no official bylaw that permanently defines what a major is. There is no article, code, paragraph or governing-body rule that says these are the majors forever and nothing can ever change. A lot of it is history. A lot of it is perception. A lot of it is what the golf world decides to value. That is what makes the Nelly conversation so interesting. If she wins Evian and the AIG Women’s Open, the label may be complicated. The achievement would not be. Four majors in one season is four majors in one season. But first comes Evian. And at Evian, nothing ever feels guaranteed. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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