NAPLES, Fla. — Nelly Korda’s birdie attempt just slid by the 18th hole, leaving her a tap-in for a par and a third-round, seven-under 65 that included seven birdies and zero blemishes.
It was another dazzling display from the World No. 2 — one that could have been even better had a few putts teetered the correct way.
“There are definitely a few I left out there, but that’s golf,” Korda said after her round at Tiburon Golf Club. “They’re all very close, burning edges, so that means I’m hitting it where I want to.”
That has been Korda’s season, one that has seen her go winless with one round to play. She has played good golf but has just been a tick off here and a tick off there, keeping her from lifting a trophy one year after she hoisted seven. Even when Korda has been at her best this year, she has either been bested (like by A Lim Kim at the Tournament of Champions) or her putter has let her down, as it did in her runner-up finish at the U.S. Women’s Open.
Korda sputtered in the first round in Naples but responded by blitzing the course on Friday to vault into contention. She backed that second-round 64 up with a Saturday 65, only to see World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul best her by one shot and extend her lead to six heading into the final round, leaving Korda with a big mountain to climb if she plans to finish the season off 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 doesn’t plan to approach Sunday’s final round any differently to ensure she finishes with a trophy. She’ll put the pedal down while staying in her process.
“I feel like when you start to push a little harder, sometimes the mistakes do start to creep in a little bit,” Korda said of her mindset trying to run down Thitikul. “You just have to be focused on your process and yourself. If it happens, it happens. You know, just know that you are out there competing hard and you’re trying to win, but you also have to not get too ahead of yourself and play the game.”
While Korda’s winless drought has been the headline of the LPGA’s 2025 season, Thitikul has been the story.
The 22-year-old has won twice and is a few Sunday hiccups away from two more victories. She overtook Korda as World No. 1, and her stats say she has been as dominant as Korda was a year ago, just with five fewer wins to show for it. Thitikul leads the LPGA in scoring average (68.88), Strokes Gained: Total (2.96), Birdie or Better Percentage (27.69%), Bogey Avoidance (10.94%), Par 3 scoring average (2.89) and Par 4 scoring average (3.92).
Thitikul won the CME Group Tour Championship last year and will enter Sunday at 22 under, six shots clear of Korda and Pajaree Anannarukarn. She’s poised to win the Player of the Year Award and the Vare Trophy on Sunday when all is said and done.
But Thitikul, who four-putted on the final hole of the Kroger to lose to Charley Hull, knows that on this gettable course, in these conditions, this tournament is far from over.
“As I always say, all the winners here, the score is like 20-plus something, which is really low scoring,” Thitikul said on Friday. “We just need to make more and more and more.”
As she has all year, she delivered more on Saturday.
After a sloppy bogey at the par-5 first, Thitikul ripped off birdies at 2, 4, 5 and 6 before birdieing four straight on the back nine to stretch her lead heading into Sunday.
Thitikul’s humility and perspective had shone through during a year in which he has statistically dominated the competition. After overtaking Korda as World No. 1, Thitikul laughed and said she still “doesn’t think she’s that good.”
But Jeeno Thitikul is that good, and she can put the perfect topper on the 2025 season on Sunday by defending her title in Naples.
It is fitting that the only one who likely has a chance to track her down is Korda, who is hoping to finally end up on the right side of golf’s fine line to end what has been a frustrating 2025.
“The competition is just getting better and better out here every year,” Korda said on Friday. “Just makes you want to improve as well because there is nothing better than being in contention going down Sunday on the back nine.”
