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Nelly Korda and women's golf should celebrate this moment and embrace the work ahead

LOS ANGELES — This is it. This is the moment. Mark it down for Sunday June 7, 2026, at almost straight up 5 o’clock on the West Coast.

That’s when World No. 1 Nelly Korda’s three-foot par putt swirled around the edge of the cup before dropping in, and the American had won her national championship, the 81st U.S. Open, for the first time at one of the country’s greatest courses, Riviera Country Club.

We won’t consider the alternative storyline if the roll had been just a quarter of an inch more to the left—other than a miss and subsequent playoff against England’s Charley Hull and Mexico’s Gaby Lopez might have changed the future of women’s professional golf.

This was Korda’s moment, in front of a packed amphitheater at Riviera and no doubt a very large television audience. It was American golf’s moment. And it most certainly should be a moment that shakes awake everyone in charge of the game at all levels of women’s golf.

For mothers and fathers, show your kids the example of a 27-year-old woman who works under a microscope and hot spotlight, and who only last year handled with admirable grace one frustrating close call after another in not winning for a single time.

For golf instructors, teach your students that the elegance of a swing doesn’t make you great; it’s the practice and mental toughness to perform under adversity and pressure that defines champions.

For the media, and even those fans who only occasional dip their toe into the waters of women’s golf, celebrate Nelly Korda as the youngest four-time women’s major winner since Mickey Wright was 25 years old in 1960. That’s the same Mickey Wright whose name and likeness appears on the medal that was draped around Korda’s neck on Sunday.

Finally, for the USGA, PGA of America and, most importantly, the LPGA Tour, you are never going to have a greater chance to laud and promote a champion of women’s golf than you do right now. Do your job, find every platform and avenue possible to tell Korda’s story, and pound it into the brains of even casual sports fans about her extraordinary accomplishments.

You know the story to tell: Korda is the greatest American player in a couple of generations. With as many seasons ahead of her as she chooses, she has won 19 LPGA titles, including two majors this year, has captured an Olympic gold medal, is a mere two points away from qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame, and she is one major win on foreign soil (Evian Championship or Women’s British Open) away from becoming only the eighth player in history to capture the career Grand Slam.

There are those who will say that promoting one player at the expense of all others is a dangerous gambit. That it’s risky to put all hold dear into one box. That it puts an unfair burden on your defining star. But nobody worried about that with Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, and in her sport, Korda has become their equal.

“To me, she’s the GOAT, and I’ve said that for a while,” Jessica Korda, Nelly’s older sister, said on Riviera’s 18th green after the trophy ceremony. “… She’s incredible. U.S. Opens transcend sports.”

Jessica Korda pointed out how popular Michelle Wie’s win was in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2. Just like then, part of that was her winning on such a storied site, but it also essentially was the end of a long journey for a woman whose achievement finally met expectations.

The promise of this win for Nelly Korda is that it can be only the springboard to interest that she and women’s golf have never had before. And that’s exactly what the LPGA needs and craves. It is a tour searching for a defined story and mission—and a bright and frequent marketing campaign that hits a home run after years of look-at-us futility. The rest of this season’s message should be about Korda’s chance at a single-season Grand Slam and her bid to reach the Hall of Fame. It Korda doesn’t appear on Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show this week, that’s already a huge miss.

When Korda won the Tokyo Olympics gold medal in 2020, there was little fanfare created by the LPGA. In 2021, Mollie Marcoux Samaan was named commissioner after Mike Whan left for the USGA, and she never seemed to connect with Korda or the many of the other players. Nor did the LPGA seem to make any progress in visibility.

Marcoux Samaan stepped down in late 2024 and was replaced by Craig Kessler, a golf industry veteran who previously was chief operating officer of the PGA of America. Kessler has engaged the players, including Korda, who has praised him for his energy, but has continued to be critical of the tour’s global schedule and the female-only format of the newly formed WTGL, which has been heavily backed by the LPGA.

Kessler has made significant strides in the LPGA’s TV coverage, and he hired a chief marketing officer, Chad Coleman, who is well-versed in modern social media platforms. But there have been hiccups and controversies this season—the decision to cut short due to weather the season-opening Tournament of Champions, which Korda won, and the scant live promotion of Lydia Ko’s bid to shoot 59 in the Ford Championship.

Kessler and the LPGA have acknowledged the issues and seem to have worked out some kinks. On Sunday, the tour had about 20 Korda-related posts. That’s big progress.

Kessler, who was on hand earlier in the week but not at Riviera on Sunday, was predictably thrilled with Korda’s win. “Nelly is a generational talent, a true superstar and one of those rare talents who can capture the attention of fans well beyond her sport,” he said in a statement provided to Golf Digest by the LPGA. “What she did this week at Riviera was another reminder of why she has become such an important figure for the LPGA Tour and women’s golf.”

There is one important figure in this equation, in terms of how this particular moment can drive interest: Korda herself.

It has been well documented during her career that Korda is a reticent public figure, that she can be shy and introverted. In the past, interviewers’ questions could be met with professional, but bare minimum answers. Loquacious and insightful, Korda was not.

But there have been glimpses this year after she won the Chevron Championship that she might be getting more comfortable in her skin, including an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” that was fun and breezy. This week at Riviera, Korda’s interaction with the media was maybe the best it’s ever been. She was relaxed, engaging and thoughtful.

On Saturday after her round, Korda became introspective on what she’s done to change her mindset about her golf. “At the end of the day I think I have to come to terms with my attitude change,” she said. “Like, I can express my frustrations to my parents, to a sports psychologist, but the only person at the end of the day that can change that is myself.”

That’s good and promising stuff for her as a golfer and a person.

It was a sentiment that made Korda, the superstar, seem more real and vulnerable than ever before. If she and those at the top of women’s golf can keep telling her story of greatness and humility, they’ve got a true moment on their hands.

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