Nelly Korda did more than win the Chevron Championship on Sunday. She wanted to prove something to herself and to young fans watching at home.

Korda started the final round at Memorial Park in Houston with a five-shot lead and finished at 18-under, winning by five shots. Major champions Patty Tavatanakit and Ruoning Yin tied for second place. But it was what Korda said after the win that really stood out.

"I really want to hoist this trophy because I want to show the kids at home that it's okay to miss short putts and still win a major championship," Korda said.

She wasn't done. "You're going to make mistakes. You have to mentally still be in it 100%, and that's really what I wanted to show. I wanted to show it to myself, and I wanted to show it to everyone looking up to me."

The 27-year-old American became the first American since Meg Mallon in 2000 to win a third major championship title. She is now a 17-time winner on the LPGA Tour and the sixth American player to win three major before the age of 28.

Korda admitted that playing with a big lead is not easy. "It’s not easy starting with that big of a lead," she said. "You almost feel like a bigger target because other players have nothing to lose, so they go for everything."

For Korda, Sunday was the reward for a year of rebuilding her mindset as much as her golf game.

Nelly Korda Credits Last Year's Frustration for Sunday's Win

Korda's victory followed a challenging period of self-doubt and tactical overthinking. She called 2025 a "super frustrating year." Her stats were good, but she did not win any trophies.

"I started analyzing everything too much, and I was overthinking," she said. "That made me freeze. I told myself I never want to feel like that on a golf course again."

Her older sister Jessica Korda put it simply after the win. "She completely put it out of her mind and stuck to her own game," Jessica said. "And kind of showed everybody, like, stuff you."

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav