At Tour Championship, leaderboards tell the story of LPGA season
NAPLES, Fla. — Nelly Korda was coming off a birdie on the 18th hole as she shot a 7-under 65 in the third round that included seven birdies and zero flaws.
It was another dazzling performance from the world No. 2 – who might have been even better if a few putters were shaky in the right way.
“There’s definitely some I missed, but that’s golf,” Korda said after a round at Tiburon Golf Club. “They were all very close, burning edges, so that meant I was hitting where I wanted.”
That was Korda’s season, and she was winless with one round remaining. She was playing golf well, but just a little bit here and a little bit there kept her from lifting the trophy a year after lifting it seven times. Even when Korda is at her best this year, she either gets beat (like Arin King did at the Championship) or her putting lets her down, as she did when she finished runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Open.
Korda struggled in the first round at Naples, but he blitzed his way into contention on Friday. She shot a 64 in the second round and a 65 on Saturday, but world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul beat her by one stroke to extend her lead to six heading into the final round, leaving Korda with a mountain to climb if she plans to end the season with a win.
‘Double-edged sword:’ LPGA’s big conundrum has no clear answer
But while Korda doesn’t want to go winless in 2025, she also doesn’t plan to go into Sunday’s final round any differently to ensure she ends up with the trophy. She would press the pedal while maintaining the process.
“I feel like when you start trying harder, sometimes the mistakes do start to creep in a little bit,” Korda said of her mentality in trying to beat Titi Kuhl. “You just have to focus on your process and yourself. If it happens, it happens. You know, just know you’re trying to compete, you’re trying to win, but you also can’t get too ahead of yourself and get in the game.”
While Korda’s winless streak has dominated the headlines of the LPGA’s 2025 season, Titicul has been the centerpiece of the story.
The 22-year-old already has two wins under his belt and he could add two more in just a few Sundays. She replaced Korda as world No. 1, and her statistics show that she is just as dominant as Korda was a year ago, just with five fewer wins. Titicoo leads the LPGA in scoring average (68.88), strokes gained: total (2.96), birdie or better percentage (27.69 percent), bogey avoided (10.94 percent), par-3 average (2.89) and par-4 average (3.92).
Thitikul won the CME Group Tour title last year and will enter Sunday’s match at 22 under, six strokes ahead of Korda and Pajaree Anannarukarn. When the dust settles, she’ll be expected to win the Player of the Year award and the Val Trophy on Sunday.
But Titicul, who four-putted the final hole at Kroger to Charlie Hull, knew the game was far from over in this situation on a golf course where the ball was available.
“As I always say, all the winners here have been in the 20s, which is really low scoring,” Thitikul said on Friday. “We just have to make more and more of it.”
As she has done all year, she delivered even more on Saturday.
After a bogey on the par-5 first, Titikul birdied Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 6 and then had four straight birdies on the back nine to extend his lead into Sunday.
Titikul’s humility and vision were on display during a statistically dominant year. After overtaking Korda to become world No. 1, Titikul laughed and said she still “didn’t think I was that good.”
But Jeeno Thitikul is That Good that she can defend her title in Naples on Sunday to cap off the 2025 season perfectly.
It’s fitting that the only person with a chance of finding her is Korda, who hopes to finally end a frustrating 2025 on the right side of golf.
“The competition here is getting better and better every year,” Korda said Friday. “It also makes you want to improve because there’s nothing better than being in contention on the back nine on Sunday.”
