CHASKA, Minn. — There are very few people who know what Nelly Korda is going through right now. Although Lydia Ko is one of them.
At the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National on Wednesday, minutes after Korda finished her pre-tournament time with the media, Ko plopped down behind the dais and explained what life is like on the brink of the Hall of Fame.
“It’s very exciting that Nelly is only two points away,” Ko said, as Korda milled around just a few feet away. “I truly believe it’s around the corner with the form that she’s been in.”
The LPGA has a unique points system for HOF entry, and after winning the U.S. Women’s Open last month, Korda compiled 25 of the 27 points required. Winning a major is good for two points, which meant Korda’s first chance at what will be many opportunities to play her way in came last week at Hazeltine. (Korda tied for 8th; the quest continues.)
Ko knows this adventure well.
Back in January 2024, Ko won the season-opening Tournament of Champions to get within a point of qualifying for the Hall of Fame, and a week later she was on the verge of clinching that point and winning the LPGA Drive on Championship. But in the group behind her, Korda finished eagle-birdie to force a playoff and beat Ko on the second extra hole.
“When that was done I was pretty heartbroken for feeling like you’re almost there and you feel it in your hands and then it is gone,” Ko said Wednesday. “It was like emotions that I had really never felt before. After that I really didn’t put myself in contention that much. Every time I sat in front of media that was the question. Like, you’re only one point away. I feel like Nelly is going to handle that much better than I did.”
Although there was a happy ending here.
“But would I have imagined myself to go into the Hall of Fame by winning Gold in the Olympics?” Ko said. “Probably not.”
Ko punched her Hall-of-Fame ticket at the 2024 Paris Games when she was still just 27 years old, which is how old Korda is now. (Korda turns 28 on July 28.)
But as Korda chases down the Hall of Fame, Ko is still chasing something herself. Ever since winning the 2024 Women’s Open, she’s opened the door for the next big thing: the career Grand Slam.
Ko has won three majors — the 2015 Evian, 2016 Chevron and 2024 Women’s Open — and the LPGA requires players to win four of the five major tournaments to complete the career Slam.
Seven players have done it, and one of them — Karrie Webb — has completed the “super” career Slam, winning all five majors. Ko can become the eighth grand-slam winner with a victory at a U.S. Women’s Open or KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She’s learned, as well as anyone, that leaping one hurdle always leads to the next.
“I think even as an amateur it was like, When are you turning pro? Are you turning pro now? And then it’s like, When are you finishing your first LPGA event as a member? And then, Are you going to break Morgan’s record? There is always something,” said Ko, who believes you should technically have to win all five of the LPGA’s different majors to capture the slam. “I think it’s great to have a goal. It’s always great to have something to reach towards, too, and that’s the same for no matter what ranked player you are.
“So, yeah, I think I have gone through all that so now I deal with it better and, honestly, like I hear it and I’m not a robot where I can just let it go out the other side, but I just don’t think I let that affect me as much on how I approach these events.”
In her first chances to complete the slam last year, Ko didn’t crack the top 10 at the U.S. Women’s Open or Women’s PGA. She missed the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera last month, and her last chance of 2026 came last week at Hazeltine, where she got off to a poor start.
She bogeyed 6, 7 and 9 to turn in 39 on Thursday morning, and she made just one birdie on the back nine to shoot 76. She chased the rest of the week and played well but never completely caught up. She shot 69 Friday and Saturday and closed with 70 on Sunday.
Ko tied for 15th, although only one player (eventual champ Haeran Ryu) shot a lower score over the final three rounds than Ko’s eight under. It was her best major finish of the year and her second-best major finish since her 2024 AIG Women’s Open victory.
There is one important caveat of Ko’s run at the slam, however. Her attempts seem to be limited.
Ko, 29, celebrates her 30th birthday next April, and she’s long said she plans to retire around that age. One might assume she plays a full season next year, which gives her two more tries at the career Grand Slam, although she’s kept her exact plans somewhat private. She told GOLF last year, “I want to go out at a time that I want to.” (She could also qualify for future U.S. Women’s Opens, for example, while not being a full-time LPGA member; it’s unclear what kind of future exemptions she could potentially receive as a Hall-of-Fame member.)
“I always thought the career Grand Slam was something that I really wanted to do,” Ko said Wednesday. “Now thinking about it, it’s very hard. It’s hard enough winning five majors, to win all different ones is pretty difficult I would say. And to be at your peak at the majors every time it comes around in the span of four-ish months, it’s hard.
“This has always been a goal of mine, but if I accomplish the career Grand Slam I’m not going to be like, Oh, yeah, I’m better than myself two years ago or five years ago. People are like, ‘You can’t retire until you do that.’ I’m like, I don’t know if it’s going to happen. If they told me if I played the next five years and I would do it, then, yeah, maybe I would. There is no guarantees, and I might as well just enjoy it while I do get to play these amazing championships.”
Her next chance arrives in 11 months.
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