(Photo credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images)

The most relevant question in women's golf at the moment may simply be: When Nelly Korda is playing like this, is there anything anyone else can do about it?

Korda took two weeks off from competition after her worst finish of the LPGA season at the Kroger Queen City Championship -- a tie for eighth. Before that, her first six starts of 2026 yielded three titles and three runners-up.

Korda's biggest win came at the Chevron Championship, the first major of the season. As she gets ready for Major No. 2, the World No. 1 says she's hungrier than ever.

'I'm just motivated to put myself into that position, to grind on off weeks, to just play the game,' Korda told reporters Tuesday ahead of the U.S. Women's Open this week at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. 'It's really hard to explain, but it's really there's nothing better when you're a very competitive person than being in the hunt on a back nine at a tournament. There's a really big rush of emotions. Even if it doesn't work out, you constantly want to put yourself back into that because all that work that you've put in in your off weeks, that's what makes it worth it.'

Korda described a six-day work week that involves waking up early, practicing, working out, going for treatment with her physio and calling it a night right after dinner.

'All those days, you kind of sacrifice your time at home with your friends or with family, but it's just so worth it because there's no better rush of emotions than being in the hunt,' Korda said.

The commitment combined with her natural talent makes Korda a difficult woman to stop. She went winless in 2025 after notching seven victories, including her first Chevron Championship, in 2024. The 2026 season is shaping up much like 2024 thus far, and she regained the No. 1 ranking from Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul along the way.

Last year at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, Korda was in the hunt all Sunday but could not catch Maja Stark of Sweden at the U.S. Women's Open. Her tie for second was her best finish at the championship to date.

Her biggest takeaway from that close call? 'That I was just hungry for more.'

'Last year was just a weird year of kind of not necessarily playing my best, but also when I did, not getting the bounces or just missing by a centimeter here and there,' Korda said. 'But I also learned a lot about myself. It made me hungrier to be in those positions.'

A victory this week would give Korda her fourth career major title. She's the heavy favorite to win at +340 on DraftKings and +400 on BetMGM.

Despite this, and despite being the most successful American female golfer in a generation at just 27 years old, Korda recoiled when a reporter described her as the face of women's golf.

'Definitely don't think of myself as the face of the sport, but I would say that it's growing,' Korda said. 'I've seen like from my rookie year, or even just maybe 2023, I've seen a big interest in girls, little girls coming out, supporting us.

'... It's amazing to see how many dads and little girls come out to our events. It is absolutely amazing to see. It has grown every single year. There are times where (caddie Jason McDede) and I catch ourselves, and we kind of look around to the crowd and we're like, wow, it's amazing to see how many people are here on a Thursday. So I do think that we are growing. Obviously, there's always room for improvement in everything that you do, but I've seen a really big trend in the fans coming out.'

--Field Level Media