At Tour Championship, the standings tell the story of the LPGA season

NAPLES, Fla. – Nelly Korda’s birdie attempt slipped just past the 18th hole, giving her a par and a third-round seven-under 65 with seven birdies and zero blemishes.

It was another dazzling performance from the world number 2, one that could have been even better if a few putts had gone the right way.

“There are definitely a few that I left out, 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.”

That was Korda’s season, where she went winless with one round to play. She has played good golf, but there have been a few ticks here and there that have prevented her from lifting a trophy a year after hoisting seven. Even when Korda has been at her best this year, she has either been beaten (as by A Lim Kim at the Tournament of Champions) or her putter has failed her, as in her second-place finish at the US Women’s Open.

Korda sputtered in the first round in Naples, but responded by charging around the course on Friday to get into contention. She backed up that second-round 64 with a Saturday 65, but saw world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul beat her by one shot and extended her lead to six heading into the final round, leaving Korda with a big mountain to climb if she plans to end the season with a win.

But while Korda doesn’t want to be winless in 2025, she doesn’t plan to approach Sunday’s final round any differently to ensure she finishes with a trophy. She puts the pedal to the metal as she stays in her process.

“I feel like when you start pushing a little harder, sometimes the mistakes kind of creep in,” Korda said of her mentality while trying to beat Thitikul. “You just have to be focused on your process and on yourself. If it happens, it happens. You know, just know that you’re competing hard and you’re trying to win, but you also shouldn’t get too ahead of yourself and play the game.”

While Korda’s winless drought headlined the 2025 LPGA season, Thitikul was 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 just as dominant as Korda was a year ago, just with five fewer wins. 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 ahead of Korda and Pajaree Anannarukarn. She is 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 the final hole at the Kroger and lost to Charley Hull, knows this tournament is far from over on this viable course and in these conditions.

“As I always say, all the winners here, the score is about 20 plus something, which is very low scoring,” Thitikul said on Friday. “We just have to keep making more and more.”

As she has done all year, she delivered more on Saturday.

After a sloppy bogey on the par-5 first, Thitikul picked up birdies on 2, 4, 5 and 6 before making four consecutive birdies on the back nine to extend her lead heading into Sunday.

Thitikul’s humility and perspective shone through in a year where he statistically dominated the competition. After overtaking Korda as world No. 1, Thitikul laughed and said she still “thinks she’s not that good.”

But Jeeno Thitikul does That well, and she can put the perfect top on the 2025 season on Sunday by defending her title in Naples.

It’s fitting that the only one likely to have a chance to track her down is Korda, who hopes to finally end up on the right side of the wave line to put an end to a frustrating 2025.

“The competition here gets better and better every year,” Korda said Friday. “It just makes you want to improve too, because there’s nothing better than being in contention on the back nine on Sunday.”