AIG Women's Open: Nelly Korda assesses chances ahead of final women's major of the year

Nelly Korda says she has nothing more to prove ahead of the final women's major of the year.

Korda arrives at Royal Porthcawl in Wales for the AIG Women's Open as the World No.1. 

But the 27-year-old is not the tournament favourite this week, with that honour going to rising star and 'generational talent' Lottie Woad. 

Woad made her first start as a professional last week in Scotland and won by three strokes. 

The 21-year-old was the No.1 amateur in the women's rankings only a few weeks ago when she blitzed the field at the Women's Irish Open four weeks. 

She also finished one shot outside of a playoff in the Evian Championship in France. 

Korda is without a victory in 2025. 

The LPGA Tour star has won two major titles in her career so far and is looking to go one better than her runner-up finish to Lydia Ko at St Andrews 12 months ago. 

"I feel like I don't really have anything more to prove to people ever," Korda said.

"For me it's just I'm passionate about the game. I love the game. I love playing in these kind of conditions, testing my game, and getting to play against the best players in the world.

"Having something to prove to myself, I don't think I really need to do that. For me it's just enjoying it and being in the heat of the battle. 

"Yeah, of course I want to accomplish more. There are goals that I have, goals that I set for myself.

"To make myself feel whole about winning in every country that I play in, that's definitely not my goal. My goal is to prepare the best that I can, enjoy myself, and hopefully be in contention. 

"Then kind of enjoy the ride because, as many highs as I've had, I've had a lot of lows too with this sport."

"You can see she has put a ton of hours in"

Unsurprisingly, Korda only had good things to say about Woad.

Woad has been handed a first round tee time alongside the defending champion, Ko, and America's Lilia Vu. 

Korda is playing alongside Angel Yin and Ariya Jutanugarn. 

"You can see that she [Woad] has put a ton of hours in," Korda said when asked to assess Woad's chances this week. 

"Her putting is very solid, her game's solid, she hits it pretty far off the tee.

"She grew up in this kind of weather too, so I feel like she's kind of comfortable. Her wins this year are professionally one's in Ireland, one's in Scotland, and obviously [playing] here [Wales].

"You can tell that she's kind of comfortable playing in rough weather. But overall, I feel like she's just very solid.

"Golf is a game of confidence and she's definitely high up there right now, so she's going to be trusting everything.

"Her worst finish in the past three events is theoretically second or third.

"I think she's also riding a confidence high too with how well she's playing." 

The AIG Women's Open gets underway on Thursday.