In a year where she came so close so often, perhaps it was meant to be that Nelly Korda would finish runner-up this week at the Grant Thornton Invitational in Naples, Fla., her penultimate tournament of the 2025 season.
Korda was unable to find the winner’s circle on the LPGA Tour this year despite, at times, outperforming her 2024 self statistically. She had nine top-10 finishes, two of which were runner-up results. And she came into this week at Tiburón Golf Club having finished solo third here at the CME Group Tour Championship.
Despite an incredible effort alongside partner Denny McCarthy on Sunday, the duo ended up three shots back of 2025 Grant Thornton Invitational winners Andrew Novak and Lauren Coughlin.
Korda and McCarthy got off to a blistering start, making five birdies in their first nine holes, and at one point, the pair were tied for the lead on the back nine after making birdies on Nos. 12, 13 and 14. They added one more circle to the card on the par-5 17th to shoot a 9-under 63 in the modified fourball format, which was tied for the second-lowest round of the day.
The only issue was the winners, Novak and Coughlin, also fired that same 9-under 63 score in Sunday’s finale and made birdies on their final two holes to pull away from the chasing pack.
They set the tournament scoring record in the process.
“I think right now we’re both a little frustrated because we’re both very competitive and like to win. We know we probably left some shots out there,” McCarthy admitted. “But playing with (Nelly) is always a treat.
“I learned a lot (when we played together before), I continue to learn a lot from her playing with her the last three days. We just had a lot of fun.”
Korda and McCarthy were chipping away through the second half of the final round, but the end result was sort of a microcosm of Korda’s year as a whole. She was very firmly in the mix plenty of times this season – beyond her two runner-up results, she also had five top-five finishes – but just couldn’t quite take a tournament across the finish line.
One of those runner-ups came at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally, which, Korda said at the CME Group Tour Championship, was one of her “highs” of the year.
“The adrenaline rush, there is nothing like it. The highs are probably seeing the great flashes in my game, where I’m very excited about the work that I put in. Then some of the lows,” Korda continued, “are like every girl can say that out here, every pro can say that (when) you put so much time in effort into your craft, and you just don’t play well. You just do it over and over and over again. Sometimes you just go a little crazy.”
Korda isn’t quite done for 2025, however, as she will be paired with her father, Petr, at the PNC Championship next week. She was quick to say how fun – and important – a week like that, and the Grant Thornton Invitational in Naples, are for the game of golf.
“It’s a great tournament to go into the holidays with. I’m playing with my dad next week, so that’s always so much fun,” Korda said. “The memories that you create there playing alongside your dad is, I mean, those are core memories that you share forever. To see his competitive spirits come back and be alive during that one week is a lot of fun.
“But to end the year with two really fun events, there’s no better way to showcase women’s, men’s golf and then also have fun on top of it.”
Korda, who celebrated her engagement recently with a beautiful, artsy spread of photos on Instagram, will look to end 2025 with a win alongside her father – a result that’s eluded her for the whole of this season until now.
But there is absolutely no doubt she’ll return strong in 2026. Just ask her playing partner this week.
“Her game,” McCarthy said, “is phenomenal.”