Nelly, Jeeno, Parity, and a New Commish: Our 2026 LPGA Season Preview

A new LPGA season begins today. The first week back looks and feels pretty similar to the start of a new school year. Everyone’s showing up with new equipment (school supplies). The rookies (freshmen) are full of nerves. Hopes and dreams for the new year are aplenty. Anything can happen. Unfortunately, some of the biggest names are missing (truant) at Lake Nona, and there’s a lengthy gap after this week. Even if it’s a weird way to start the season, it’s a start nonetheless, and I’ve put together a number of storylines to watch as things get underway. 

Note: Please feel free to bookmark this article for future reference in a few weeks when the season actually gets going.

Will the parity problem continue to rear its ugly head in 2026?

I really, REALLY hope not. Last year was the worst-case scenario for a tour trying to expand its reach and bring in new fans. There wasn’t a repeat winner until October, and a record-breaking 29 players won an event. I understand that a deeper tour with loads of talent is a positive, but let’s imagine for a moment that this happened over on the PGA Tour. The pitchforks would be out in full force. There would be thinkpieces about the existential crisis in Ponte Vedra, statistical deep dives about how to fix the parity problem, and nostalgic look-backs about the glory days of golf. 

At the very top of the “Things the LPGA Needs” list is top players winning multiple tournaments. For all the work that Craig Kessler has done since taking over in July, his job remains a difficult one if no one recognizes the person in the winner’s circle each week.

What tournaments are you most excited about this year?

The Solheim Cup heads to the Netherlands for the first time ever this year. This is the biggest event in women’s golf and it offers a rare chance to grab the attention of casual sports fans. At Robert Trent Jones Golf Club two years ago, the event made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The bus and transportation nightmare at the hands of former Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan left first tee stands sparsely filled and fans angry when/if they arrived on-site. As Eamon Lynch eloquently wrote this fall after the embarrassment that was Bethpage Black, “The Ryder Cup is a shop window for the sport, and this one left a lousy impression for prospective customers.” Come September, the Solheim Cup needs to shine brighter than it ever has before.

In terms of action on the course, I’m very interested to see how much turnover each team experiences. The lineups at RTJ looked very similar to the ones rolled out in Spain in the fall of 2023. The Euros had swapped out two players while the Americans changed out four. Consecutive Solheim Cups with the same captains for each side meant consistency and familiar routines for each side. Angela Stanford and Anna Nordqvist are at the helm now. Shorter careers combined with parity mean the teams at Bernardus Golf Club in September might have a bunch of new faces.

Honorable mention here for the U.S. Women’s Open heading to Riviera and the AIG Women’s Open visiting Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s. I fully expect the USGA to roll out new bells and whistles in Los Angeles, and Lytham and St. Anne’s will be a wonderful fit for the scale of the women’s game.  

Will World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul win a major?

It’s the biggest storyline of the new season without a doubt.

What about Nelly? Does the winless drought end soon?

If Nelly’s consistently high level of play continues, a win is imminent. Remember, she exceeded or nearly matched her numbers in most statistical categories in 2025 compared to her 2024 record-breaking season. We’ll get a peek at how Korda’s game looks this week, and then probably won’t see her again until late March as she likely won’t be making the trip over to Asia. Right now, all we know is that she’s not very happy about WTGL being a totally separate spinoff from TGL and that she’s got some new equipment in the bag. More questions than answers at this point.

Any rookies you’re keeping an eye on?

This year’s class of rookies has its work cut out for it to keep pace with the damage done by last year’s group. Six of them won an event, including Miyu Yamashita at the AIG Women’s Open. Big shoes to fill, but there are a few names amongst the 28 rookies that could be up to the challenge. Helen Briem will certainly make her way onto the highlight reels with her length off the tee and may make it all the way on the European Solheim Cup team. Mimi Rhodes fared well as a LET rookie last year with three victories. Rhodes, Briem, and Chiara Tamburlini are all ranked in the top 85 of the Rolex World Rankings and make up a young and promising European contingent. Melanie Green made waves in 2024 when she became the first American to win the Women’s Amateur Championship since 1996. Her quick ascent from Epson Tour to the LPGA is evidence that her breakthrough win was not a fluke. 

What about off the course? Does Craig Kessler have more tricks up his sleeve?

I’m not sure when we’ll see a noticeable difference in how the LPGA Tour is marketed, but I expect new CMO Chad Coleman will make his presence felt sooner rather than later. If you listened to this week’s episode of the Mixed Bag, you know Matthew Galloway and I are more than pleased with Coleman’s hiring. 

Once the Asia swing wraps up, you’ll start to see the enhanced broadcast features that were announced this winter. Three cheers for no more tape delays! More cameras and more technology can only help a broadcast that looks and feels like it’s decades behind its PGA Tour counterpart. 

Come December, we may see the biggest announcement yet from Kessler. I expect the 2027 schedule to have some major changes. A logical start and flow to begin the season, maybe a rearrangement of the majors, and perhaps a revamped playoff series to end the season are all viable options. 

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Bonus! Three More Storylines for Your Consideration

Does Lauren Coughlin return to her 2024 form?

After cracking the top 10 of the Rolex World Rankings last spring, Lauren Coughlin picked a terrible time to enter a slump. From the end of May to early July, arguably the most important stretch of the season, she missed the cut in the U.S. Women’s Open, the Women’s PGA, and the Evian. Not a great time to pull a disappearing act. There will be no shortage of motivation for Coughlin to find her way back to the winner’s circle in 2026. It’s a Solheim Cup year after all, and Coughlin will want to ensure she’s on the roster once again following a 3-0-1 showing in her debut in 2024. As it stands today, she’s one spot out of the automatic qualifiers. A win would book her ticket to Bernardus.

You covered Jeeno and Nelly. How about Charley Hull? Is this the year she can finally call herself a major champion?

What a storybook ending it would be if Charley were the final woman standing at Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s. The last time the Open was held there in 2018, her best friend, Georgia Hall, came away victorious. There hasn’t been an English winner since. Hall is expecting her first child later this year and plans to make her return to golf at Lytham. Is a Charley victory there too good to be true? Maybe so, but we know she has a flair for the dramatic. 

Does Lydia Ko Call it Quits?

The 28-year-old has said she won’t play past 30. That lines up nicely with her also saying the Paris Olympics would be her last. No Lydia at Riviera in 2028 is all but guaranteed. Athletes change their minds all the time, and “retirement” is already a vague term in the world of golf. My two cents, for what it’s worth, is that Lydia’s main motivation for the rest of her career, however long that may be, revolves around the U.S. Women’s Open. She reiterated this week that it has “always meant a little bit more than anything else.” A win would give her the grand slam and “put the cherry on top of the cake.” If she’s this year’s U.S. Women’s Open champion, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends the year riding off into the sunset.