Korda wins Player of the Year, one point short of Hall of Fame

Nelly Korda became the 2026 Rolex Player of the Year at 5pm on Tuesday without hitting a shot. That was the deadline to enter The Annika, and neither Miyu Yamashita nor Jeeno Thitikul, the only two players who could still catch her, had entered.

Korda has 239 points. Haeran Ryu is second, 63 behind, but she will miss this week’s TOTO Japan Classic after injuring a finger ligament in a golf cart during a pro-am, the Associated Press reports. Two wins in the last two events would bring her 60 points at most. Yamashita is on 156 and Thitikul on 155, and both needed to win in Japan, at The Annika and at the CME Group Tour Championship.

It is Korda’s second Player of the Year award; the first came in 2024. She has won four times this season: the Tournament of Champions in February, the Chevron Championship in April, the Riviera Maya Open in May and the US Women’s Open at Riviera in June. She leads the money list with $6,220,214 and the scoring average at 69.38, and has missed one cut in 14 starts.

The award brings her 26th LPGA Hall of Fame point. She needs 27, and the Vare Trophy cannot supply the last one, because it requires 70 rounds and she has played 53, with at most eight left. That leaves a win at The Annika, which finishes on 15 November and which she has won three times in the last five years, or at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida.

Asked about the Hall of Fame at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June, she said: “I think it’s an amazing accomplishment and it would be one of the best achievements of my career for sure.” She would be its 36th member. The Player of the Year award will be presented on 17 November, in the week of the CME.

Sources

• Golf Digest: Nelly Korda clinches 2026 LPGA Rolex Player of the Year honors
• Golf Monthly: Nelly Korda wins LPGA Player of the Year award to close on Hall of Fame
• Australian Golf Digest: Nelly Korda clinches 2026 LPGA Rolex Player of the Year honors
• LPGA: Nelly Korda player profile
• Wikipedia: 2026 LPGA Tour