Late NBA commissioner David Stern called it a “blessing.” When Stern took over the NBA in 1984, the league was in hard times, fighting to gain a foothold on national television and trying to stabilize itself. While it was Stern’s ambition and innovative business sense that were credited with propelling the NBA into its global future, that would not have been possible without two key figures: Bird and Magic. What Stern understood was that, to capture attention and demand eyeballs, star power — and rivalries more specifically — sells.
In Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, Stern had two stars: one a stoic trash-talker and the other a charismatic competitor. That the two had already locked horns in college was a bonus. Stern directed the NBA’s marketing arm to lean into the individual rivalry, to promote games as Bird and the Celtics or Magic’s Lakers instead of, simply, Lakers vs. Celtics. That decision and the subsequent arrival of Michael Jordan took the NBA from a down-on-its-luck, tape-delay league to the superpower it is today. Twenty years after a rivalry transformed the NBA, professional golf found its own transformation courtesy of Tiger Woods. Woods’ transcendent talent was enough to reshape the conversation around pro golf itself, but adding Phil Mickelson, a diametric rival, helped usher in a whole new audience to the PGA Tour as fans flocked to see if Woods, the robotic killer, could make history and whether the risky and charismatic Mickelson could be a proper foil to greatness.
All that leads us to the LPGA and this year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club. When Nelly Korda curled in a three-foot putt to win the biggest title in women’s golf and capture her second consecutive major, the LPGA set off on a “scrappy plan” to promote the game’s biggest star. As the LPGA hunts for its breakthrough moment, like the WNBA and women’s soccer have procured in recent years, the first step was to have a gravitational star whose talent, feats and personality demand attention. Korda’s blistering start to the season, coming on the heels of a winless 2025, was a gift that new LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler could have only envisioned in his dreams when he took the job last summer. Eight months into the gig, he had it. That was Step 1.
But if you looked closer at Korda’s victory at Riviera, if you peeled back the layers, you could see a bigger dream in the background.
That weekend, Charley Hull put together a blistering 36-hole run of “F— it!” golf and pushed Korda as the World No. 1 eyed a dream accomplishment. In the end, Hull came up one shot shy of a playoff, settling for her fifth career major runner-up.
“It’s just frustrating. Another second place. I think that’s five second-place finishes I’ve had in majors now,” Hull said that evening in Los Angeles, her charismatic personality shining through even in defeat. “It’s pretty annoying, but I played really well the last day. Obviously missed a couple putts on the back nine, but it was quite windy, and I hit the ball fantastic, so fair play to Nelly Korda for back-to-back wins.
“I just love playing in the majors. Like I pretty much only get up for the majors. It’s really weird I just love playing in majors. Like if it’s a normal week-to-week I struggle sometimes getting the motivation. But when it comes to major weeks, I just love it. Like if I just even just make the cut, like at the weekend I can make a massive charge. But, no, I loved it out there.”
There’s no doubt the LPGA loved it as well. The league is full of young, exciting talent with dynamic personalities, but there’s no question that the top two names on the marquee are Korda and Hull. The conversation at each major starts with them. It was not an accident that when Kessler talked about creating global stars back at the CME in November, he specifically mentioned Korda and Hull and how what they both do on and off the course fits the LPGA’s vision.
A legitimate rivalry between polar-opposite stars is a priceless commodity in sports. It’s something organic that can’t be manufactured or bought, only amplified by proper marketing and willing participants. In Korda, the LPGA has a dominant force who picks golf courses apart with a textbook swing and stoic demeanor. In Hull, they have a free-wheeling, gas-pedal-down star with a flashy personality. In the two we have oil and water.
A Nelly-Charley rivalry would theoretically be a priceless gift for the LPGA. The 2024 Solheim Cup, where Hull dominated Korda in singles but the U.S. won, gave us a glimpse of what that might look like. But we aren’t there yet. There’s another step.
“I don’t really see it as a rivalry at the minute, because, no offense, Nelly has got many majors, and I’ve got none,” Hull said on Tuesday ahead of the AIG Women’s Open. “I’ve got five second places. So let me get my major in first, and then that’s something we can think about in the future. But listen, what Nelly is doing for the game of golf is unbelievable and so good to watch … But I just want to get over the line and win my first major. Five second-place finishes in majors kind of hurt.”
Korda is as aware as anyone that Hull’s major moment could come soon, as long as you keep knocking; eventually the door swings open.
“It’s about putting yourself in that position,” Korda said of Hull’s near misses. “You can’t control what others are doing, but she’s doing something right to always be there and be relevant, to be in the hunt. It’s kind of like Sam Burns. He’s been in the hunt a lot during major championships; hasn’t got it done. Eventually he will. You can’t get discouraged; it has to be encouraging.”
Much like when Tiger raced out to an eight-majors-to-zero lead on Mickelson, there is no suspense currently in this hopeful narrative. Rivalries need an ebb and flow to exist and grow. You can try and cast it into existence, but if one’s always a hammer and one’s forever a nail, it will fail to take root.
This week’s Women’s Open at Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s is an opportunity for the LPGA’s dream vision to begin to crystallize. Last year, at Royal Portcawl, Hull, as she did at Riviera, went on a weekend tear to zoom up the leaderboard and get on the doorstep of her maiden major title. In the end, she came up short, and Miyu Yamashita took home the title. Reminders of that close call are everywhere this week for Hull, only adding to her major motivation.
“I remember looking at the faces [of past champions] walking in on the first day from last year and stuff, I was like, oh, I wish that was me,” Hull said.
Hull can erase that bad taste with four good days of proper links golf at Lytham. Korda, who has cooled off since her blistering start to the season, will also be looking to punctuate her year with a third major and a ticket to the LPGA Hall of Fame. It’s easy to conjure up the LPGA’s dream scenario in your head: a Sunday duel between the game’s two biggest figures on a demanding links test — one that gives the LPGA a narrative that can launch it higher into the type of bold future Kessler has been preaching.
The LPGA’s own “blessing” is sitting on the horizon just out of clear view. It might be approaching, but something has to happen before the bigger picture can become reality.
Charley Hull has to achieve her own dream first.
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