Nelly Korda captured the 81st U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera for her second straight major win, finishing 8-under 269 and edging Charley Hull and Gaby Lopez by one shot after a dramatic final putt.
LOS ANGELES — The putt left the face of the putter with just enough pace to scare everyone in the group and just enough break to turn into a test of faith. Nelly Korda watched a 2 1/2-foot par attempt on the 18th green curl around the cup before it finally dropped. and by the time it did. disbelief had already turned into laughter.
Korda won the 81st U.S. Women’s Open on Sunday for her second consecutive major victory. holding off Charley Hull and Gaby Lopez by one shot. Her final round was a steady 2-under 69. and the margin came down to a pair of moments on the 18th green—her second putt caught the left edge and traveled around half the circumference before it came to rest. That last correction is what sealed her first U.S. Open title and her fourth major championship overall.
She finished at 8-under 269 after sharing the lead with multiple competitors throughout a windy finale of the first Women’s Open ever held at 100-year-old Riviera. The conditions never made it easy, but Korda stayed composed through them. On the 17th. she holed a 9-foot birdie putt to break out of a four-way tie for the lead with Lopez. Hull. and three-time major champion In Gee Chun.
After that. the endgame slowed—two-putting for par on 18th to claim the $2.5 million winner’s share of this Open’s record $12.5 million purse. The achievement landed in the season with momentum already built: Korda had won The Chevron Championship in April. then added to a stunning run in which she posted three victories and three second-place finishes in her first seven starts after going winless in 2025.
Her week in Los Angeles followed a pattern of recovery and control. After a rough opening-round 73 at Riviera, she responded with back-to-back 67s to take a share of the lead into the final round.
At the back end of the scoreboard, amateur Aphrodite Deng of Calgary finished in a two-way tie for 17th at even par, and Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., landed in a six-way tie for 22nd at 2 over.
The closing stretch made the story feel inevitable and fragile at the same time—an event decided by a single dropped putt, a championship secured after the cup refused to be reached on the first attempt, and a champion who can still find the joy in the moment after everything almost went wrong.
Nelly Korda U.S. Women's Open Riviera Charley Hull Gaby Lopez In Gee Chun Aphrodite Deng Brooke Henderson golf
So one putt and she’s a legend? Golf is wild.
I didn’t even watch but I saw the headline. Korda held nerve… ok but isn’t this like rigged somehow when it breaks her way? 2 1/2 foot putt sounds easy until it’s not I guess.
That 18th green stuff sounds like “the cup refused to be reached” which honestly feels like poetic writing lol. But why were they taking like 3 puts? I swear I heard it went around the cup twice? Anyway congrats to her, I guess.
Two straight majors is crazy. Also the article says 100-year-old Riviera like it’s part of the reason it was windy? I’m not sure how age of a golf course affects anything, but conditions never make it easy right? I just think the prize money ($12.5 million) is why everyone’s so tense on the last hole. One shot either way and boom.