LPGA returns this week in L.A. without Nelly Korda, Jeeno Thitikul

Nelly Korda has lost to only two people in 2026: Hyo Joo Kim (twice) and Lauren Coughlin.

The former No. 1’s finishes this season are 1-2-2-T2.

It’s been 20 years since an LPGA player finished runner-up in three consecutive weeks, and that was Lorena Ochoa in 2006. The LPGA Hall of Famer went on to win five times after that run of close calls.

After a week off for The Masters, the tour returns for this week’s JM Eagle LA Championship, though 27-year-old Korda is not in the field. Her run-up to the LPGA’s first major of the season looks different this year, and it’s easy to understand why.

Nelly Korda of the United States plays her shot from the 13th tee during the second round of the Aramco Championship 2026 at Shadow Creek Golf Course on April 03, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It’s not easy to get from L.A. to Texas. Last year, Korda arrived in The Woodlands from Los Angeles on Monday afternoon and then, as defending champion of the Chevron Championship, hosted the annual champions dinner that evening. She did not see the golf course that day.

On Tuesday, she played in the nine-hole pro-am that afternoon but, with the tour’s revamped pro-am regulations, was unable to practice on her own ball. The tour’s pro-am policy encourages players to focus more on the entertainment aspect of the pro-am and less about their own practice. There’s a fine structure in place to keep them motivated to stay on task.

On Wednesday, bad weather rolled in and wreaked havoc on the field’s practice schedule. Storms have plagued the event since it moved from the California desert. After a brutal opening 77, Korda rallied to make the cut at the Chevron and ultimately tied for 14th, her first finish outside the top three at the event since 2019.

Skipping this week’s event in California solves a lot of potential issues for Korda, particularly at a new venue in Memorial Park, and gives her another week of at-home prep. As it has been documented several times during her career, she’s better than most at coming in hot after a break.

“I'm just going to stick to what I'm doing,” said Korda, when asked after the Aramco Championship what she needed to do to win Chevron for a second time.

“You know, I'm really happy with the way that my game is trending, and sometimes when you work too hard and you exhaust yourself, you can go the other way.”

Nelly Korda of the United States and Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand wait to hit on the second tee during the third round of the FM Championship 2025 at TPC Boston on August 30, 2025 in Norton, Massachusetts.

World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul, the best player in the world without a major, is also in the midst of a two-week break. Thitikul won on home soil earlier this year at the Honda LPGA Thailand but hasn’t contended since. When not home in Thailand, Thitikul’s U.S. base is in Carrollton, Texas, near Dallas, making it a somewhat easy commute to Houston.

While the top two players in the world won’t be in the field this week at El Caballero Country Club, 15 of the top 25 are set to play for a purse of $3.75 million, including No. 3 Hyo Joo Kim, Minjee Lee (No. 5) and Hannah Green, a three-time winner worldwide this season.

In addition, the top two junior players in the world – Asterisk Talley and Aphrodite Deng – will compete on sponsor invitations. Talley, 17, was in command at the recent Augusta National Women's Amateur until suffering catastrophe on the par-3 12th with a quadruple-bogey 7.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LPGA returns this week in L.A. without Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul