There are weeks on the golf calendar that feel important because of the trophy.
Then there are weeks that feel bigger because of everything surrounding it.
This week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, feels like one of those bigger weeks. It has the major championship label. It has a historic venue. It has a loaded field. It has a record-setting purse. And, perhaps most importantly, it has the best player in the world walking onto the property with a chance to turn an already remarkable season into something that starts to feel historic.
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Nelly Korda has already won the Chevron Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open this season. Now she arrives at Hazeltine with a chance to win the first three women’s majors of 2026, move even closer to rarified LPGA air and continue what has become one of the most compelling runs in modern golf.
That alone would be enough to make this week appointment viewing.
But that is not the only storyline.
Minjee Lee is the defending champion. Lydia Ko has another shot at adding to her legacy. Hannah Green returns to the place where she won this championship in 2019. Miyu Yamashita arrives fresh off a playoff victory at the Meijer LPGA Classic. And Hazeltine, a place with Ryder Cup, U.S. Open, PGA Championship and women’s major history, is not the kind of course that simply hands out birdies and waits for someone to collect a trophy.
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This week is going to ask more than who is hot.
It is going to ask who is complete.
Major Championship Week
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine
When
June 25-28
Where
Hazeltine National
Field
156 Players
Purse
$13 Million
Why It Matters
Nelly Korda is chasing a third straight major, Minjee Lee is defending, and Hazeltine gives the LPGA one of the strongest championship stages of the season.
Hazeltine Is a Proper Major Championship Test
Hazeltine is not just a name on a media guide. It is one of the true championship venues in American golf.
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The course has hosted the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, U.S. Women’s Open, Ryder Cup, U.S. Amateur and, now for the second time, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. It is also scheduled to host the Ryder Cup again in 2029, which will make it the first U.S. venue to host that event twice.
That kind of pedigree matters.
Hazeltine is long enough to reward power, but it is not a golf course that lets players get comfortable simply by swinging hard. Fairway bunkers, uneven green complexes, penalty areas and wind all play a role. The course asks for controlled aggression, and that is one of the best kinds of major championship tests.
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The players who thrive this week will not be the ones who play scared. They will be the ones who understand when to attack, when to accept par and when to keep the ball in front of them.
That is where Hazeltine gets interesting.
The par 5s will create chances, but not without risk. The closing stretch can change a championship quickly. The 16th and 17th bring water and demanding green complexes into the conversation, and the 18th asks for one more committed tee shot and one more precise approach.
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In other words, there is very little room for a player to fake her way around this place for four days.
Hazeltine Watch List
The Storylines Start Here
1
Nelly Korda
The clear headline. She already owns the first two majors of 2026 and can turn this into a historic season at Hazeltine.
2
Minjee Lee
The defending champion has the patience and ball-striking profile that can hold up on a major venue.
3
Lydia Ko
Every major start carries legacy weight, and Hazeltine offers another chance to add to an already elite career.
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4
Hannah Green
She won this championship at Hazeltine in 2019, and positive memories matter when a major gets tight.
5
Miyu Yamashita
Fresh off a playoff victory at the Meijer LPGA Classic, she brings real momentum into major championship week.
The Nelly Korda Chase Is the Headline
Nelly Korda kisses The Harton S. Semple Trophy on the 18th green after the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club. June 7, 2026; Pacific Palisades, California.Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
Every major needs a center of gravity.
This one has Korda.
Korda already had the star power. She already had the swing, the resume and the ability to make difficult golf look almost casual. But what she is doing in 2026 has moved into another category. Winning one major in a season is career-shaping. Winning two before the calendar gets to late June is rare. Winning three straight would be the kind of thing that changes the way a season is remembered.
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The fascinating part of Korda’s chase is that she does not have to do anything flashy for it to feel dominant. Her best golf is clean. It travels. It is built on balance, ball-striking, athleticism and the kind of putting that can turn a good week into a runaway.
Hazeltine should suit a player with that kind of complete skill set.
But major championship golf rarely allows a player to just show up, execute and walk away. There will be wind. There will be uncomfortable lies. There will be pins that ask questions. There will be moments where the smart shot is not the heroic one.
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If Korda wins this week, it will not be because the story was inevitable.
It will be because she handled the weight of it.
Minjee Lee Has a Different Kind of Pressure
Minjee Lee hits her tee shot from the fourteenth tee during the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club. Jun 4, 2026; Pacific Palisades, California. Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn ImagesCredit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
Defending a major championship is a strange assignment.
On one hand, Lee knows exactly what it takes to win this championship. She did it last year at PGA Frisco, where she captured her third major title and reminded everyone that her best golf is still more than good enough on the biggest stages.
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On the other hand, defending is different from chasing.
Lee does not come in with the same noise around her as Korda. That might help. Her game is not built on chaos. It is built on structure, patience and ball-striking that can hold up when conditions get uncomfortable.
That matters at Hazeltine.
Lee does not need to win the pre-tournament attention contest. She needs to hang around, stay stubborn and let the championship come to her. That sounds simple, but it is often the difference between players who play major championship golf and players who simply play in major championships.
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The Legacy Stories Go Well Beyond Korda
Korda will rightly command much of the attention, but this field has more depth than one superstar.
Ko is still one of the most compelling legacy players in the sport. Every time she tees it up in a major, the conversation is not just about the week. It is about the larger arc of one of the most accomplished careers of her generation.
Green is another name to circle because of the venue. She won the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine, and positive memories matter. They do not guarantee anything, but they do give a player something solid to lean on when the week starts to get tense.
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Then there is Yamashita, who comes in with momentum after erasing a five-shot final-round deficit and winning the Meijer LPGA Classic in a playoff. She already has a major title on her resume, and confidence earned the week before a major can be dangerous.
Add in names like Jeeno Thitikul, Ruoning Yin, Charley Hull, Brooke Henderson, Hannah Green, Amy Yang, Celine Boutier and others, and this becomes much more than a Korda coronation attempt.
It becomes a major championship with multiple paths to a memorable Sunday.
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The $13 Million Purse Matters, Too
It is impossible to talk about this championship without talking about the purse.
The 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will feature a $13 million purse, the highest in women’s golf history. That is not just a number. It is part of the larger story of where the women’s game is going.
For years, the women’s game has had the talent, the personalities, the international depth and the quality of play. What has often lagged behind is the size of the platform.
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That is changing.
Major championship venues matter. Broadcast windows matter. Digital coverage matters. Purse growth matters. All of it works together to tell players, fans and the next generation that this is not a side stage. This is the stage.
And this week, Hazeltine gives the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship the kind of setting that matches the moment.
What Will Decide the Championship?
This week should come down to three things.
First, driving position. Hazeltine can reward length, but it will punish players who constantly play from the wrong places. The rough, bunkering and angles into greens will make it difficult to consistently save shots from poor positions.
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Second, approach control. The best iron players in the field should separate themselves because Hazeltine’s greens ask for more than just hitting the putting surface. The right section matters. The right miss matters. Controlling trajectory in the wind matters.
Third, patience. This is always the hidden major championship skill. Players can lose a major because they make one bad swing. More often, they lose it because one bad swing becomes two bad decisions.
The winner at Hazeltine will likely have a stretch where she looks calm while the course is trying to make everyone else hurry.
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That is major championship golf.
Why This Week Feels Like a Big Moment
The men’s game just came through another major championship week with all the noise, debate, drama and attention that comes with it. Now the women get a major stage of their own, and this one has everything a fan should want.
A historic venue.
A true superstar chasing something rare.
A defending champion with major championship credibility.
A deep international field.
A purse that says the event is growing in the right direction.
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And a golf course that will not allow the champion to simply coast.
The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship has long been one of the LPGA’s most important titles. This week, it feels like something more.
It feels like a measuring stick.
For Korda, it is a chance to measure greatness in real time.
For Lee, it is a chance to measure championship toughness again.
For the rest of the field, it is a chance to step into a major venue and change the entire shape of a season.
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And for women’s golf, it is another chance to show that when the stage is this big, the product is more than ready for it.
TV and Streaming Guide
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship Coverage
Thursday, June 25: Golf Channel, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. CT and 5-7 p.m. CT
Friday, June 26: Golf Channel, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. CT and 5-7 p.m. CT
Saturday, June 27: Peacock, 9-11 a.m. CT; NBC, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. CT; Peacock, 2-4 p.m. CT
Sunday, June 28: Peacock, 8 a.m.-12 p.m. CT; NBC, 12-3 p.m. CT
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Featured Groups: Daily streaming coverage is scheduled from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. CT through the official app, championship website and PGA Championships YouTube channel.
PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent “The Starter” on R.org, where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his newsletter or visit his MuckRack Profile.
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This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Jun 23, 2026, where it first appeared in the Golf section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.