GOLF: Nelly Korda rolls to Riviera Maya title for third win of '26

Nelly Korda didn't take long to return to the winner's circle, posting a final-round, 3-under-par 69 to win the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba by four strokes Sunday in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Korda continued her victorious ways at El Camaleon Golf Course seven days after capturing the Chevron Championship -- the first major of the season and the third such title of her career -- and returning to the No. 1 world ranking.

Korda entered the day with a three-shot advantage and wound up four ahead of Thailand's Arpichaya Yubol (70). In third at 12 under was China's Yu Liu (69), feel-good story Brianna Do (71) finished fourth at 10 under and Colombian amateur Maria Jose Marin (69) placed fifth at 8 under.

"I think it was a perfect week after a major championship, too, where it felt like it was super relaxing but I knew that I needed to grind and I was here to work," Korda said. "... I've had such an amazing time. Yeah, I mean, emphasizing it with a win, at the end of the day that's what I was coming here for."

Korda's only scoring stretch amid two runs of pars came at the fifth through seventh holes. She holed an eagle at the par-5 fifth, then birdied the next two for a 4-under run.

From there, it was 10 straight pars until cleaning up a bogey 6 at the 18th.

"I guess there (were) two parts to my round," Korda said. "Definitely on my front nine I had my A-game, and then on the back nine I wasn't playing bad; just wasn't hitting it close. And then I was kind of cruising and then golf humbled me on the last hole. Made my (second bogey) on the weekend."

Korda continued a thoroughly dominant season to this point. In six starts, she now has three victories and three second-place finishes.

"I've had some amazing moments in my career," the 27-year-old said. "In 2024 I won five in a row and my fifth one was a major. So I've had -- I can't say that one moment in my career was the best. I think all of them have had a different meaning and all of them have been so great in different ways.

"I'm just happy to be competing out here healthy, motivated. You know, I'm so happy on the golf course. I'm happy off the golf course."

Yubol brushed off an early bogey with birdies at Nos. 4 and 5, but her next eight holes were all pars and she ran out of time to catch up to Korda. A double bogey at No. 16 killed her chances despite three birdies in the last five holes.

"Normally when I play with like another player and they have like a big crowd, so my brain is kind of crazy a little bit, and sometime it's too hard to like control your game and control your brains, anything," said Yubol, who played on her 24th birthday.

"But this time, it's kind of like, I don't know, maybe it's my birthday, too. Like I'm growing up; 24 already. Like I talk to myself like all the time. Like even I'm hit bad I'm still talk to myself, you can do it. You can come back any time. Just play your game and everything happen is happen."

Do, 36, had one top-10 and zero top-five finishes in her LPGA career before this week. She was a co-leader after the first and second rounds but was still pleased with the end result.

"After last year, you know, going into it I believed that my best golf was still ahead of me even though I'm one of the older players out here, and I still believe that. It just showed this week," Do said. "It's hard to not get emotional, but I'm really proud of myself and how I played."

-Field Level Media/Reuters