Nelly Korda won the US Women’s Open for her second consecutive major victory, holding off Charley Hull and Gaby Lopez by one shot when her final putt curled perilously around the cup and dropped in.
Korda’s first US Open win is the fourth major victory of her career, and she claimed it with a steady two-under-par 69 in the final round at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles – but only after her second putt on the 18th green – from 30 inches – caught the edge and performed what Korda later described as ’an ice cream swirl’ around the hole before finally falling in.
Korda put her hand over her open mouth in disbelief before finally laughing at the nervy end to a win that emphasised the reigning world no.1’s dominance of the women’s game. The 27-year American finished at eight-under for the tournament after sharing the lead with a host of players throughout a final round played in windy conditions.
Korda made a 9-foot birdie putt on the 17th to break out of a four-way tie for the lead with Lopez, Hull and three-time major champion In Gee Chun. Korda two-putted for par on the 18th, claiming the $2.5m winner’s share of this Open’s record $12.5 million purse.
Korda won the first women’s major of the season, the Chevron Championship in April, and has had three victories and three second-place finishes in her first seven starts of a spectacular season after going winless in 2025. After a tough opening-round 73, she put together back-to-back 67s to take a share of the lead into the final round.
The leaderboard only separated late on Sunday after seven players began within two strokes of the lead, but only Korda avoided a bogey on the back nine, allowing her to fend off excellent final rounds from Hull and Lopez, who both narrowly missed out on their first major victories.
Hull began the day three shots back, but she charged into the lead with an opening eagle followed by a birdie, before the wind picked up and led to a roller-coaster finish – for everybody except Korda.
“I feel like I’m in a dream,” said Korda. “ I just can’t even explain how much this means to me. I think last year I really, really wanted it, and the more you want it sometimes the more you stiffen up and you get a little bit more nervous. I play my best golf when I’m happy, free Nelly, and I’m kind of joking around out there. That’s kind of the attitude that I need.”
For Hull, who was seven strokes behind at the halfway mark, it marked another frustrating end to her search for her first major title. After making such a slow start, a win seemed unlikely, but she followed her third-round 65 with a four-under-par 67 in the fourth to equal the lowest 36-hole total in US Women’s Open history.
The 30-year-old from Kettering has now notched up five second-place finishes in the majors – four times since the start of 2023 and twice in the last three.
“It’s just frustrating,” said Hull. “Another second place. It’s pretty annoying, but I played well over the weekend and I have to take the positives from that. I obviously missed a couple of key putts on the back nine, but I hit the ball fantastic in the windy conditions, so fair play to Nelly [Korda] for back-to-back wins.”
For all the scores from the 2026 US Women’s Open, click here.
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