Nelly Korda Cruises To Third Win Of The Season At Riviera Maya Open

Nelly Korda with the Riviera Maya Open trophy — Nelly Korda claimed her third win of the season

(Image credit: Getty Images)

With each week, the LPGA Tour season increasingly resembles 2024, when Nelly Korda dominated with seven wins to establish herself as World No.1.

Korda has finished no lower than runner-up in each of her six starts this year, returning to the top of the world rankings in the process, while her win in Mexico is her third of the season.

It has also given her back-to-back wins for the first time in two years following her victory by five at last week’s Chevron Championship.

At Mayakoba, Korda was almost as dominant, cruising to the title by four, with Arpichaya Yubol her closest rival.

Korda began the final round with a lead of three and never looked like relinquishing it.

After four consecutive pars to start her round, Korda came to life with an eagle at the par-5 fifth, before back-to-back birdies built her lead to six over playing partner Yubol.

Arpichaya Yubol closed the gap to four at the end

That was an advantage she maintained at the turn, with the likes of Yu Liu and Brianna Do also hoping for an improbable slip from the leader to bring them back into the conversation.

It didn’t come, although Yubol briefly reduced the deficit to five with a birdie at the 14th. However, any hopes she had of keeping up the pressure for her maiden LPGA Tour win were dashed at the 16th with a double bogey to give Korda a seven-shot cushion.

With Korda so dominant, she didn’t need to chase anything, as exemplified by a run of pars from the eighth to the 17th.

At the 18th, Korda made her first bogey of the day, but still finished in style, rolling in a long putt to card a 69, with Yubol making back-to-back birdies to finish second, four behind the winner.

Nelly Korda celebrates winning the Riviera Maya Open — Nelly Korda beat Arpichaya Yubol by four

Korda's recent performances suggest she's not feeling any pressure at the moment, and she admitted afterwards she was enjoying golf, saying: "I'm just enjoying myself and I love the competition. I love traveling to places like Mexico, all over the world. I'm just having fun, yeah."

Not only does Korda’s latest win give her prize money of $375,000, it also means a place in the LPGA Hall of Fame is coming into view. Her latest victory puts her on 23 points, with 27 the threshold to take her place among the game’s greats.

With the way the 27-year-old has started the season, that looks likely to come sooner rather than later.

TOPICS

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.