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Nelly Korda Has Never Had a True Rival. Charlie Hull Might Be It.
Nelly Korda just won her fourth major championship — the youngest American to do so since Mickey Wright in 1960. She is the first player since Inbee Park in 2013 to win the first two majors of the season, and the first American to do that in forty years. By any measure this was one of the great weeks of her career.
And yet the moment that may matter most for the future of women's golf did not happen on the leaderboard at all. It happened in the gap between first and second place — and the player standing in that gap was Charlie Hull.
Justin Ray and Trey break down why this Riviera finish might have been the beginning of something much bigger than one tournament.
The Performance That Defined the Week
Nelly Korda missed fairways constantly over the final three rounds at Riviera — by her own caddie's standards, this was far from her cleanest ball-striking week. And yet she got up and down 20 times out of 22 opportunities over those three rounds. Justin calls it potentially one of the best scrambling performances at any major, men's or women's, ever. The mental maturity on display — missing a fairway, accepting it, executing the recovery without any visible frustration — is what separated this win from her earlier ones. This was not Nelly dominating a course that fit her game perfectly. This was Nelly managing a brutally difficult golf course with her short game and her mind, and that is a different kind of impressive.
Charlie Hull's Statement
While Korda was grinding out pars, Charlie Hull was doing something historic of her own — tying the record for the lowest closing 36 holes ever shot at a US Women's Open. 65-67 on the weekend. And on the final hole, with no one else making birdies at 18 all day, Hull birdied to apply maximum pressure.
Here is the number that should stop you. Charlie Hull now has five runner-up finishes in major championships. The only player in LPGA history with more without a win is Ayako Okamoto, a generation ago, with six. Most of the time that kind of number carries the weight of heartbreak — think Colin Montgomerie, think peak prime Rory before his major win. But that is not how this feels with Charlie Hull. There is no sense of when will this ever happen. There is a sense that it is simply a matter of time.
Part of that is her personality. Charlie Hull does not put up with slow play. She is a firebrand. Her quotes before both Saturday and Sunday were essentially the same sentiment — let's go for it, whatever happens happens. And then she went out and lit up the golf course both days. If she had completed the comeback and won, her celebration would have been a moment women's golf would be talking about for years.
The Moment That Almost Was
Korda's putt on the final hole — the one that would have forced a playoff with Hull and Gabby Lopez — lipped in instead of out. Her reaction afterward suggested she genuinely thought she had missed it. For a moment, the door was open. Hull was right there. And the LPGA was one shot away from a playoff between the best player in America and one of the most electric players in the world, on one of the best golf courses anywhere, in primetime.
Does Nelly Korda Finally Have Her Rival
This is the question that matters most going forward. Nelly Korda has been the best player in the world for stretches now, but she has never really had a defined rival — someone the sport naturally measures her against, head to head, on the biggest stages. Jin Young Ko has been that in the world ranking sense at times, but not in head-to-head moments on major Sundays.
Charlie Hull already has a piece of history with Korda — she beat her in singles at the 2024 Solheim Cup. Now add a major Sunday at Riviera where Hull pushed Korda to the very edge. The pieces are there for something the LPGA has been missing — the best player in America and one of the best players in Europe, squaring off multiple times a year on the sport's biggest stages, with genuine stakes every time.
Gabby Lopez Should Not Be Forgotten
It is worth noting that Gabby Lopez was very much part of this story too — a veteran in her thirties who has restructured her entire season around peaking for majors, and who made a clutch birdie on the final hole to stay in contention. If Korda's putt does not go in, this becomes a three-way playoff between three of the most dynamic and different personalities in the sport.
What Comes Next
The Solheim Cup is in Amsterdam later this year. If Korda and Hull end up on opposite teams again, after everything that just happened at Riviera, that is appointment viewing. The LPGA has to be thrilled with how this tournament played out — not just for the ratings of one Sunday, but for what it might mean for the next several years of the sport.
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