Nelly Korda named LPGA player of the year, nears Hall of Fame

Nelly Korda has been confirmed as the LPGA's points-based player of the year for 2026, the second time she has taken the award in three seasons, according to the BBC.

The honour leaves the world number one needing just one more victory to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame.

Korda's position became mathematically secure on Tuesday, Yahoo Sports reported, after South Korea's Haeran Ryu withdrew from last week's event in Malaysia through injury, while Japan's Miyu Yamashita and Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul chose not to enter next week's Annika in Florida.

With those rivals unable to close the gap, Korda wrapped up the award with three tournaments still to play, repeating the feat she managed in 2024.

Golf Monthly's Paul Higham reported Korda holds 239 points in the season-long standings, a 63-point lead over Ryu, who has only two events left and a maximum of 60 points still available to her.

Yamashita sits third on 156 points and Thitikul fourth on 155 despite both also winning four times in 2026, though neither entered The Annika and so cannot overhaul Korda.

The 28-year-old American's season included four victories: the Tournament of Champions in Orlando, which was reduced to 54 holes because of bitter cold and wind, the Chevron Championship, the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba, and the US Women's Open at Riviera, where she held off Charley Hull.

Two of those wins were majors, and Yahoo Sports noted Korda also added a tied-for-fourth finish at the AIG Women's Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

She opened the year with six consecutive tournaments in which she either won or finished runner-up, a run ended only by a tie for eighth before her victory at the US Women's Open.

Across 14 starts this season Korda missed just one cut, finishing with four wins, three runner-up placings and three further top-eight results, Golf Monthly reported.

She also leads the LPGA money list on $6,220,214 and tops the scoring average table at 69.38.

As in previous years, Korda skipped the four-week Asia swing and now plans to play the season's final two events in Florida, The Annika and the CME Group Tour Championship.

On the separate Hall of Fame points scale, the player-of-the-year award gives Korda 26 points, one short of the qualifying mark, according to Yahoo Sports.

She can reach the threshold by winning either of the two remaining tournaments.

Should she do so, Korda would not become the youngest inductee; Inbee Park reached the Hall of Fame requirements at 27, a year younger than Korda is now.

Golf Monthly reported that Korda's award will be formally presented on 17 November during the week of the CME Group Tour Championship, the same week her home town of Bradenton, Florida honoured her with a key to the city and renamed the day Nelly Korda Day.

Attention now turns to The Annika and the CME Group Tour Championship, where a single victory would be enough to confirm Korda's place in the LPGA Hall of Fame.