Nelly Korda named LPGA Tour player of the year

Nelly Korda has claimed her second points-based LPGA player-of-the-year award, the BBC reported on 4 November 2026. It is the second points-based player-of-the-year honour of her career.

Korda, 28, is the world number one and has 19 LPGA Tour victories. She previously won the points-based player-of-the-year award in 2024. The American opened the 2026 LPGA Tour season with a six-tournament stretch where she either won or finished as the runner-up, which established an early lead in the points race.

She won four times this year, including the first two majors — The Chevron Championship and the US Women's Open at Riviera. The sequence of results across the season contributed to her points advantage.

South Korea's Haeran Ryu also won two majors this year but withdrew from last week's tournament in Malaysia because of injury. Japan's Miyu Yamashita and Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul did not enter The Annika next week in Florida, and those absences meant Korda secured the award with three tournaments remaining.

Asked about potentially entering the Hall of Fame, Korda said in June: "I think it's an amazing accomplishment and it would be one of the best achievements of my career for sure."

Korda is one victory away from qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame. She would not be the youngest to qualify: New Zealand's Lydia Ko and South Korea's Inbee Park were both 27 when they qualified.