Through the first 10 events of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, one thing stands out a bit more than others, the lack of wins for the two highest ranked players in the world, Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul. Thitikul did win once on the Ladies European Tour, but not stateside. While the season is still young, the discussion of disappointment is coming up already, particularly around Korda. By this time last season, Korda already had five wins, and was about to capture her sixth. But is it time to actually worry about the two superstars? The stats say no.
Let’s start with scoring average, a statistic which these two have dominated in the 2020s. Korda led the tour in scoring average in 2024 and 2021, while Thitikul led in 2023 and finished second in 2024. Korda’s average scoring was 69.56 in 2024 and 68.77 in 2021. Fast forward to 2025, where she currently leads the tour in the category, and her scoring average is between those two marks at 68.80. Thitikul is currently third on tour in scoring at 69.08, which is actually the lowest of her career. Of course, more context is necessary, as the season is young and only one major has been played, generally scores are higher in the five biggest events of the year. Still, these two are scoring on average well enough to be dominating the tour.
This season, Thitikul has been in relative position to win almost every week. In six stroke play starts, she has four top-10 finishes and three top-threes. Korda has put together three win-quality rounds every week, but has also had one outlier in every event. Those issues came to a head when she shot +5 in the opening round of the Chevron Championship, when just an even par round would have had her in prime position on Sunday. If Korda can eliminate that one bad round, she will see the wins come.
When looking at the two seasons from an analytical standpoint, both are excelling there as well. Thitikul is currently ranked No. 2 in strokes gained total, while Korda is ranked No. 4. Korda of course is still an elite ball striker, ranking No. 12 in strokes gained tee-to-green and No. 2 in strokes gained off the tee. Where she’s struggling is with a usual strength of her game, chipping, where she ranks No. 83. Finally, the most high profile part of her game right now, putting, where she’s struggled in the last couple events. She ranks No. 23 but that has been moving down.
Thitikul, who is No. 2 in strokes gained total, is consistent across the board, ranking 19 in strokes gained tee-to-green and 15 in putting. The only category where she is outside the top 30 is around the green.
All this to say, these are still two elite players who are performing at a high level in 2025. Both have put themselves in good positions to win, and just need to close better in order to get in the win column.
