When major championships conclude, time slows down for the winner. As family and friends tear onto the 18th green for hugs, photos and a trophy presentation, pressure and plans melt away.
For the runners-up, though, time can speed up.
From the moment Nelly Korda’s putt circled the cup on Riviera’s 18th green and fell in, less than five minutes passed before Gaby Lopez was seated at the media-center podium, taking questions from just two reporters about her second-place finish. Her co-runner-up, Charley Hull, sat at the back of the room, anxiously playing on her phone, ready to leave the property. Did she have to stick around to accept the second-place medal? That’s what her team wondered aloud.
Lopez and Hull exhibited very different dispositions. Hull was frustrated. All that for second? Lopez was ecstatic.
“I feel amazing,” she said. “I’m not disappointed at all.”
Lopez had never been this close, and it showed. Hull now has five major runners-up; on Instagram she called herself a “bridesmaid again.”
It was a fascinating juxtaposition but witnessed by few. Our collective gaze was fixed on Team Korda’s photoshoot on the 18th green. Hull is 30 and Lopez is 32, and the whole golf world expects the former to win a major before the latter — everyone, that is, but Lopez herself, who seemingly is in hot pursuit of a major and nothing else.
She’s consulted her countrywoman, two-time major winner Lorena Ochoa, for advice on how to win the game’s biggest events. She’s removed customary starts from her summer schedule, partly because of grass types. If the next major is on bentgrass, she doesn’t want to prepare on poa. In the interim, whenever Lopez’s competitive juices urge her to play more, her physio shuts her down.
“Right now, let’s be smart,” that trainer, Aaron Bond, told Lopez this year. “Let’s be focused on what you want to achieve. At the end of the day, let’s put yourself in a position that you can have a shot on the back nine on Sunday.”
It may be clichéd framing, but at Riviera it worked, right up until the 70th hole of the championship, anyway. On the 16th green, Korda had 21 feet for birdie, on a similar line to Lopez, who had 28 feet. Korda took two swipes to get her ball in the hole; Lopez needed three.
That U.S. Open-deciding bogey would keep most players up at night. But Lopez, who has three more bites at the major apple this season, sees only positives.
“There’s not one thing that I regret,” she said. “I’m happy. I’m proud … We just have to be a little tighter in a couple weeks and hopefully one day it’s our chance.”
3 things I’m thinking
1. New beginnings? On the topic of Riv, I heard a rumor that its famous 1st tee may not be the 1st tee at the Olympics in two years. The problem? It’s so close to the clubhouse that it creates difficult flow for spectators and doesn’t allow for any grandstands behind it. If this happens, I’d like to propose the 3rd tee as an alternate option.
2. Doonbeg or bust. President Trump’s attendance at this week’s NBA Finals game in New York was a reminder that I’ve been told he intends on attending the DP World Tour’s Irish Open at his Doonbeg course this fall. His schedule could change, of course, but Trump loves seeing his courses host the pros. Doing so in another country would make for a much bigger spectacle.
3. Nelly knows no bounds. Korda confirmed at Riv what we knew a week ago: She is playing the best golf of her life. DataGolf’s advanced analytics rank her 2026 performance as a full shot better, on average, than her 2024 season, when she won five times in six starts. Just like Scottie Scheffler, Korda somehow keeps raising the bar.
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