CHASKA, Minn. — There’s a reason why what Nelly Korda is accomplishing in the women’s game right now feels different: American golf hasn’t had a season like this since 1999.
When Juli Inkster broke through to win her first U.S. Women’s Open title in 1999 at Old Waverly Golf Club, she was a 39-year-old mother of two. While the engaged Korda, 27, is comparatively in a different stage of life, the parallels and potential of Korda’s 2026 compared to Inkster in ’99 are striking.
Korda’s Riviera stunner was her 19th career LPGA victory and her fourth major title. Inkster’s 1999 U.S. Women’s Open breakthrough was her 20th LPGA victory and her fourth major, too.
Fourteen days after Inkster won the title she wanted most in West Point, Mississippi, she won the McDonalds LPGA Championship to achieve the career grand slam.
Three months later, she played her way into the LPGA Hall of Fame by winning the Safeway in Portland, the last American to do so.
“God, that just amazes me,” said Inkster of the 27-year wait for another U.S. player to enter the Hall.
Since that time, a total of six players from around the world have played their way in: Annika Sorenstam (2003), Karrie Webb (2005), Se Ri Pak (2007), Inbee Park (2016), Lorena Ochoa (2022) and Lydia Ko (2024).
But no Americans.
At this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA at Hazeltine National, Korda has the chance play her way into the LPGA Hall. Currently two points shy of the 27 needed to get into what many consider to be the toughest shrine in sports, a fifth career major (worth two points) would get her there.
But even if she doesn’t win another tournament this year, Korda will likely get into the Hall via year-end accolades. A four-time winner already this season, she’s on pace to collect a second Rolex Player of the Year title (worth one point). With a 68.26 scoring average that’s a full stroke below her nearest competitor, Hyo Joo Kim, she’s also likely to win the Vare Trophy (also worth one point).
“Honestly, I have not thought about the Hall of Fame really once,” said Korda after winning at Riviera. “I told myself that I’m just really going to stay present in the moment and concentrate on what’s in front of me.”
For Inkster, having her husband and two kids, ages 9 and 5, as well as roughly a dozen players stick around to celebrate her on the 18th green in Portland was the best part.
“To have the respect of my peers, my friends out there,” she said, “they were all amazing aunts to my kids.”
Korda’s 2026 victories at the U.S. Women’s Open and Chevron Championship make her the first American to win back-to-back since majors since Inkster in 1999.
Inkster won seven majors over the course of her career, and she’s proud to have won them across the span of three decades, winning three majors in her 20s, three in her 30s and one in her 40s.
Winning the U.S. Women’s Open in her 20th attempt made her feel like she was playing with “house money” after that.
“It just seemed like after I won the Open,” she said, “I really didn’t care what I did.”
She would, of course, go on to win 11 more times on the LPGA, including a second U.S. Women’s Open title.
Korda has two ways to win the career grand slam this year, with the LPGA requiring four different majors to achieve the feat. With now three different major titles on her resume (2021 KPMG Women’s PGA, 2024 and 2026 Chevron Championship, 2026 U.S. Women’s Open), Korda needs either the Amundi Evian Masters or AIG Women’s British Open to lock up the slam.
A total of seven LPGA players have achieved the career grand slam in the tour’s 76-year history. Inkster was the last American to do that too, after winning the 1999 LPGA Championship by four strokes.
“I don’t think we get enough credit for that,” said Inkster of the career slam. “No one ever says it on your bio, but it’s such a big talk about for the guys.” Maybe, she concedes, it’s because LPGA majors have lacked consistency.
A total of eight different events have been considered LPGA majors since the tour started in 1950. The LPGA schedule has included five majors since 2013.
Does a modern player like Korda, who has seen no changes to the designated majors during her time on tour, need all five to achieve the grand slam?
“That’s a damn good question,” said Inkster. “I would say if you’re going to win a career grand slam, you’ve got to win all the majors.”
Korda wasn’t even 1 when Inkster achieved the career grand slam. In 1999, Britney Spears debuted her first album, U.S. women’s soccer won the World Cup and paranoia swept the nation with the impending doom over Y2K.
It’s hard to say which is tougher: achieving the career grand slam and the LPGA Hall of Fame while raising two kids or doing it against a wealth of global talent.
“I bet if you ask my kids if I’d won the career grand slam, they’d have no idea,” cracked Inkster.
Of course, Korda has another slam potential this season. After winning the first two majors of 2026, she has the chance to become only the third player in LPGA history to win the first three majors of the season, joining Inbee Park (2013) and Babe Zaharias (1950).
Does she need four or five majors this year to achieve the calendar grand slam?
Either way, it’s a gift to even be having the debate.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Nelly Korda 2026 season mirrors LPGA Hall of Famer Juli Inkster in 1999
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