World No.2 Nelly Korda saw her 14-month win drought ended in extraordinary fashion at the 2026 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions on Sunday.
Korda had carded a scintillating eight-under-par round of 64 in brutal weather conditions on Saturday, catapulting her to the top of the leaderboard on 13-under as most of the other players in the field battled to sign for something in the 60s.
However, eight of the 39-pro field were not able to complete their penultimate trip around Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Florida because of the cold and extremely windy conditions on show.
Play was subsequently suspended late in the day and the plan was for the third round to be finished early on Sunday before resuming round four thereafter.
Yet, despite hope that the course was be playable for a long enough period during the allotted time, the LPGA Tour announced at around midday ET on Sunday that the event would be reduced to 54 holes due to a limited window of appropriate conditions.
An update regarding the @HiltonGrandVac: pic.twitter.com/u1PpqVd69gFebruary 1, 2026
A statement from the LPGA Tour read: "Based on conversations between the rules officials, tournament staff, partners and the grounds team, the decision has been made to reduce the 2026 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions to a 54-hole event...
"Play will continue with Lake Nona Golf & Country Club becoming playable in competitive competition at its peak temperature.
"The weather and temperature for tomorrow is forecasted to be the same as this morning which will likely create similar conditions and prevent us from completing 72 holes."
Those who had completed three rounds - which included Korda on 13-under - had to sit tight to learn which position they would end in while the remaining players - which included her closest challenger, Amy Yang (-10) - would have a chance to finish up on Sunday afternoon.
However, given the Korean only had two holes left, her chances of catching Korda were always extremely low and the former World No.1 did not have to wait long to discover her fate.
Yang ended the tournament on -10 after failing to improve on her overnight total, and the two-time Major champion was able to celebrate a first LPGA Tour victory since The Annika in November 2024 by three strokes.
Reacting to her 16th LPGA Tour win, Korda said: It feels amazing. I'm just super proud of Jason [caddie] and I yesterday for how we fought those conditions.
"For my team. I wouldn't be here without them. We're all pieces of a puzzle. I wouldn't be who I am without them. Just so grateful."
Yang was second on 10-under and three strokes clear of Brooke Henderson in solo third, who will now be without her sister and regular caddie for a while as she takes time off to have her baby.
Lydia Ko finished alone in fourth on six-under while Miyu Yamashita and Youmin Hwang shared fifth on five-under. Jeeno Thitikul and Lottie Woad were tied-seventh (-4), and the top-10 was completed by Rose Zhang, Somi Lee, Haeran Ryu, Ayaka Furue, A Lim Kim and Nasa Hataoka all on three-under-par.
