Like Scottie Scheffler, Nelly Korda is facing an incredibly difficult task in 2025 as she looks to follow up on what was one of the all-time great years on the LPGA Tour.
Nelly Korda achieved more in 2024 than many will manage in their careers. The 26-year-old won her second major title at the Chevron Championship. That victory came in a run in which she won six times in seven starts on the LPGA Tour.
And just when it seemed that Lydia Ko and Jeeno Thitikul were closing the gap to the world number one, Korda produced a Sunday masterclass to win The ANNIKA in November to put the exclamation point on her year.
What was surprising about the American’s year was that there was something of a slump in the middle of the season. She missed the cut at two of the five majors.
Nelly Korda’s biggest threats on the LPGA Tour for 2025 picked out
As mentioned, Ko’s career resurgence continued as she won The Open and the Olympic gold medal. Meanwhile, Thitikul edged out Angel Yin with a superb performance to win the CME Group Tour Championship.
It is A Lim Kim who leads the standings early on in the year following her win at Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January. Meanwhile, Rio Takeda has hit the ground running in her debut year on tour.
Speaking on Golf Channel, writer Ron Sirak noted that he is expecting another impressive year for Korda – on one condition. But he did identify some of the names to watch out for as potential threats.
“This is her second chance to build on success. In 2021 she won four tournaments including the KPMG Women’s PGA. She got the Olympic gold medal and then for the next two seasons she won a total of one tournament. That was because of injury and illness. Clearly, clearly the skill is still there. The desire is still there. I think it’s going to become a question of whether her health holds up and she can give us a full season out there. I expect her to add more majors. I expect her to have another multiple win season, it just all depends on how her body hangs in there,” he said.
“The first five tournaments this year have been won by all players under the age of 30, which is pretty remarkable. You look at it and Angel Yin and Yealimi Noh are two people who can build on their success. I think we got the early favourite for rookie of the year, Rio Takeda, of Japan. She is 21 years old and has already won eight times on the JLPGA last year. She now has two LPGA wins. She was ninth in the US Women’s Open last year. And somebody I think could be a dark horse and not much of a dark horse to contender with Nelly for player of the year honours is Jeeno Thitikul,” he added.
What Jeeno Thitikul desperately needs after remarkable 2024 season up against Nelly Korda
Thitikul now needs to take that next step in her career and secure a first major title. She has seven top 10s in the five biggest events – but she is also without a single top three.
But clearly, she has the talent to blow almost everyone else away. Brandel Chamblee noted that Thitikul had actually outperformed Korda in a number of categories across the 2024 season – which will be remembered for Korda’s incredible run in the first-half of the year.
But there is so much depth across the tour right now. Yealimi Noh has taken a step forward after a pretty miserable major championship record between 2022 and 2024 by winning the Founders Cup last month. Meanwhile, Lilia Vu really grew into last season after struggling with injury.
It would, in many ways, be fantastic for the women’s game if Korda can go anywhere near replicating her 2024 season. But if she is unable to, there are so many names who look poised to step up and make 2025 their year.
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