Seven days after winning the Chevron Championship last week, Nelly Korda flew to Playa del Carmen, picked up where she had left off, and broke the tournament record. Clearly, the world number one is not coasting on a major win; she is perhaps building on it.

With back-to-back rounds of 67, Nelly Korda has shattered the 54-hole scoring record at the Riviera Maya Open by seven shots on Saturday. She now sits at 14-under, three shots clear of Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol, heading into Sunday’s final round at El Camaleón Golf Course.

Her only real test came at the par-4 9th, where she drove into a bunker and had to lay up. However, she hit a wedge to 8 feet and made the putt without flinching. From there, it was controlled: two birdies on 13 and 15, then an 8-iron to 18 inches on the last for the eagle.

“We just kind of try to avoid the mistakes as much as possible,” she said. “Trying to stay away from the holes that kind of lead you to trouble is the goal.”

The record has an interesting history. The Riviera Maya Open only launched in 2025, and Japanese rookie Chisato Iwai had set the 54-hole benchmark at 7-under, a number that stood exactly for 12 months.

El Camaleón is a Tiger Woods-designed layout that also hosts the PGA Tour’s Worldwide Technology Championship. It’s a course that rewards patience and punishes aggression. The wind off the Caribbean Sea adds another layer of difficulty, particularly for afternoon starters. Despite that, Nelly Korda is the only player in the field who has handled it perfectly, and she has gone 43 holes without a bogey.

What makes this run even more significant is where Nelly Korda was just 12 months ago. Korda went through the entire 2025 season without a single win. And this is after seven victories in 2024. She made every cut, posted nine top-10 finishes, and led the Tour in multiple strokes-gained categories. Analyst Brandel Chamblee called it the best winless season in LPGA Tour history.

Heading into 2026, however, there has been a clear shift in approach, particularly on the greens. Korda brought in putting coach David Angelotti, whose structured methods have helped stabilize her performance. Just as importantly, she has simplified her in-round mindset, moving away from overanalysis.

“If I get into trouble, I’ll figure it out,” she said.

This record-setting performance marks a sharp upward turn, even as Korda admitted her energy levels were not fully recovered following last week’s major. But she was determined, as she shares she came to Mexico “to work, not on vacation.”

A win on Sunday would give her six consecutive top-two finishes to start a season, something no player has done since Annika Sorenstam in 2001. It would also be her 18th LPGA title and move her five points closer to Hall of Fame qualification. The four players immediately behind her on the leaderboard have yet to win anywhere on the Tour.

A peek into Nelly Korda’s 2026 season behind the record

Before Mexico, Korda had already made the 2026 season one to remember. She opened her season at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of the Champions in January with a three-stroke win, then returned in March to finish runner-up at three events straight: the Fortinet Founders Cup, the Ford Championship, and the Aramco Championship in Las Vegas.

At the Chevron Championship last week, Korda went wire-to-wire at Memorial Park and won by five shots, claiming her third major title and pocketing a record $1.35 million from a $9 million purse. She also became the first player in LPGA history to win multiple majors with a score of 18 under or better. The win moved her to sixth on the LPGA’s all-time prize money list, jumping both Inbee Park and Jeeno Thitikul.

In addition to all the qualifications for the course, Nelly Korda leads the Race to the CME Globe, the season-long points race that determines the year-end champion, and also tops the Vare Trophy, awarded to the player with the lowest scoring average on tour. In short, she is statistically the best player on the LPGA Tour right now by every measure, and all eyes are on her for Sunday’s win.