HOUSTON: World number one Nelly Korda says her agonizing near-miss at the US Women’s Open earlier this month has left her hungrier for success as the Women’s PGA Championship tees off on Thursday.

The 26-year-old American had to settle for second place behind Maja Stark at Erin Hills three weeks ago after dropped shots in the final round ultimately torpedoed her chances of bagging a third major crown. “Just an absolute heartbreaker,” Korda said immediately after her runner-up finish. “But that’s golf.”

Korda has long targeted the Open as one of her priorities ever since making her major championship debut in the tournament at the age of 14 in 2013, and this year’s tilt was the closest she has ever come to landing the elusive title. Korda though says she is ready to turn the page on her disappointment as the third major of the season gets underway at PGA Frisco’s 6,604-yard Fields Ranch East layout on Thursday.

“It just makes you hungrier,” Korda said of her Open heartache. “For me, I hate making mistakes; obviously I love winning. “You don’t get to win often, but there’s nothing like it being in contention, so I think that’s kind of what makes me hungrier to come back and to work harder and put myself into that position.

“You can look at it in a positive way, you can look at it in a negative way, but at the end of the day, three weeks after, I can spin it in a positive way, and it’s going to make me hopefully hungrier.” Korda arrived in Texas this week still chasing her first title of 2025 after a dominant season last year that included seven wins, among them the second major of her career at the Chevron Championship.

While the defeat is a motivator for Korda, Open champion Stark said her victory at Erin Hills still hasn’t sunk in. “I haven’t really thought about it,” Stark said. “I don’t think I really had too much time to digest it because I had the tournament the next week, and then last week I had off.” 

Stark’s first major title earned her a bumper payday of $2.4 million, money that she says remains untouched. “I feel like everyone has been asking me if I’ve treated myself to anything or bought something,” Stark said. “I was like ‘No’. I was pretty happy with what I had before and I’m still happy with it.” – AFP