A lot has changed since Nelly Korda last played professionally in Mexico.
Almost a decade, since her rookie season in 2017. So now is as apt a time as any to ask the world’s top-ranked player and future LPGA Hall of Famer about how much her career goals have shifted — and what has been the coolest thing she’s seen since splashing away to a win in Houston just 72 hours ago.
LeBron James posting on X was notably pretty sweet, but she said nothing compared to the Nike billboard in New York City congratulating her on becoming world No. 1 again after her third major win: “18 under? Whoa, Nelly.”
“Everything has been so fun. The billboard up in New York City, that’s more of a pinch-me moment,” Korda told reporters at the Riviera Maya Open in Mayakoba. “It’s so crazy.”
Korda said all of her sponsors have come together and sent amazing messages and videos of her jumping into the pool after winning the Chevon Championship.
“There is one video the TaylorMade social team did where they put together of them all doing a cannonball into a pool. Really cool moments like that where it’s kind of crazy to see how many people support me,” she added.
“You know, you get lost in kind of how I refer to it your little bubble. When you do look on the outside, how many people are happy for you that you accomplished such an amazing thing is really cool to see and I’m just so grateful for all the amazing messages that I got and all the support that I do get every week.”
Lorena Ochoa impact and being a role model
Korda also had her rookie season in mind, but not because of the massive steps she had taken since her LPGA debut a decade prior. Rather, she was asked about what she remembered about Lorena Ochoa.
“From what I remember from everyone saying is how kind she was and how well she carried herself even how dominant a player she was,” Korda said. “That’s something that I think that I like to carry as well, is like being kind to others, being respectful to others, but still being a bulldog out on the golf course ... for how short of a period she was out on tour and how dominant she was, it’s very inspiring.”
Korda said she was sad for never having had the opportunity to play with Ochoa professionally but that she wanted to carry herself as a role model that inspires golfers like the 27-time LPGA Tour winner did to generations of younger players during her World Golf Hall of Fame career.
“She has done so many amazing things for the game of golf, like grow the game in Mexico,” Korda said of Ochoa. “You have so many of the little girls that look up to her just because of the position that she was in.
“I think that you have so many amazing international players that do that for their country, like Seri Pak that grew the game so much in Korea and Lorena who grew the game so much for Mexico. The position the LPGA is in where all these great athletes from every country, they get to inspire the next generation. And the way Lorena held herself and the way that she represented herself is very admirable where that’s how I want to carry myself.”
Nelly spotted in Mexico 👀
— LPGA (@LPGA) April 29, 2026
Fresh off her major win, Nelly is teeing it up for the first time here @RivieraMayaOpen 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/JusA46ttqu
World No. 1 ranking comes with advantages, disadvantages
Korda compared being No. 1 in golf to tennis, something she knows about given her family background.
She said there is an advantage to being the No. 1 player in the world in tennis — with head-to-head matchups — whereas she doesn’t feel that carries over to golf, where it’s one player vs. the field.
“In golf there is no advantage to being the No. 1 player in the world. It just means you’re playing the best golf,” she explained. “When it comes to being an advantage there is zero in golf, so for me it just means you’re playing the best golf. I don’t really focus on the ranking too much. I just focus on the simplicity of golf, of trying to go out there and do the best that I can.”
She was asked about what her next goal was now after walking out of Texas $1,350,000 richer.
“What’s funny with sports is, that’s in the past. What you want to do is look to the future and look to improve and look to contend in the bigger events,” Korda said. “Even if you get beat, it doesn’t matter. That’s kind of what motivates me to continuously put myself in that position.”
Cannonball practice, necessary or unnecessary?
Korda, who couldn’t remember the last time she cannonballed before Sunday and said that it might have been in 2024 when she won in California, called her form “top notch.”
“Both times I thought my cannonball was really good,” she added.