The last time the women teed it up in a major was eight months ago at the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath. A winless Nelly Korda was looking to end a frustrating summer on a high note by grabbing a second major. What followed instead was more frustration.

At first glance, her T-11 finish looks like a result any pro golfer would take during one of the biggest weeks of the year. But the numbers behind that finish tell a different story. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Nelly Korda lost 5.08 strokes on the putting green. A spectacular week that saw her gain almost 12 strokes from tee to green was wasted with the flatstick. (Sound eerily familiar to the recent struggles of a golfer who just added his second green jacket to his closet?) Nelly was the only player in that top 11 who lost strokes on the putting green, and her tee-to-green numbers eclipsed everyone not named Lilia Vu.

Flash-forward to the Solheim Cup later that fall, where Nelly started working with putting instructor Eric Dietrich. In an interview with Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols, Nelly spoke about Dietrich helping her feel more organized in her approach to putting.

“Felt like I just have a plan now, or I have tendencies that I know about that I can always go into a drill and kind of work on those tendencies. Where before I was kind of blind going to a putting green. I did it myself.”

In addition to the new approach, Nelly also switched from left-hand-low to a traditional grip. Results weren’t immediate, and her first start of the 2024 season at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions had to give Nelly a case of Women’s Open déjà vu. She finished T-16 and was third in SG: Tee to Green but ended up second to last in SG: Putting, losing over 6 shots to the field.

It’s now clear that performance is an outlier relative to the rest of Nelly’s 2024 campaign. Since that start, she’s rattled off four wins in a row, gaining strokes on the field every step of the way. She’s putted well on different grass types in stroke play, match play, and in playoffs, doing all of it in a mix of hot, cold, rainy, and windy weather. The results are in, and the work during the offseason is paying dividends. 

Nelly’s second major has never felt more within reach.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.