Nelly Korda is the world’s most dominant golfer, plus Deion’s latest exodus
| 20/04/2024, 15:27 (há 2 dias) |  | ||
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Nelly Korda secures record-tying fifth consecutive win, second major title at Chevron Championship
Five wins. Five starts. Nelly Korda has once again matched women’s golf history.
Korda won the Chevron Championship for her fifth victory in five consecutive tournament starts, joining Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004, 2005) as the only players to go five-for-five on the LPGA.
The 25-year-old defeated Maja Stark by two shots to capture her second career major championship and 13th Tour win, carding a 13-under tournament total at the Club at Carlton Woods on Sunday.
“I can finally breathe now,” Korda said standing on the 18th green in Houston after the final round took more than six hours to complete. “That back nine felt like the longest back nine of my entire life.”
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After the weather-delayed third round concluded in the morning, Korda teed off in the final threesome tied with Canada’s Brooke Henderson at 10-under, one shot behind the solo leader Hae Ran Ryu. But as Henderson and Ryu faltered within the first four holes, Korda surged. She made back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth holes to take an early but commanding three-shot lead at 12-under.
Korda made two more birdies on the par-5 eighth and 10th, where she chipped in from the long of the green to move to 14-under par. With eight holes to play, the impending result seemed inevitable, but Korda couldn’t let her historic performance unfold without a few blips as the pressure piled on.
Korda bogeyed the par-4 11th and subsequently the 15th, where her drive found the penalty area lining the left side of the fairway. A one-handed finish after her approach over water indicated a big number could be on the way, but the iron shot landed safely on the putting surface and she two-putted to drop back to 12-under.
For a moment, a final-round push from Lauren Coughlin looked like it could challenge Korda, but the UVA product soon carded back-to-back bogeys and never came within one shot of the world No. 1’s lead.
“I was definitely starting to feel it on the back nine, the nerves setting in,” Korda said. “It’s a major. It’s everything that I’ve always wanted as a little girl to lift that major trophy.”
On the par-3 17th, Korda’s tee shot exemplified exactly why she continues to dominate on the LPGA. Korda fired directly at the flagstick, nearly holing out for an ace. The ball ricocheted off the pin and she two-putted for par.
On the 18th, Korda stuck to her aggressive game plan once again. She outdrove her playing partners and launched a long iron at the water-lined green, landing safely on the back fringe.
The Bradenton, Fla., native kicked off her historic 2024 run with a win in her backyard at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Bradenton Country Club in January, defeating Lydia Ko in a two-hole playoff. Seven weeks later, she prevailed in a playoff again, this time outlasting Ryann O’Toole with a birdie on the first extra hole at Palos Verdes Country Club in Los Angeles.
At the next event, the Ford Championship in Gilbert, Ariz., Korda had a much more relaxing victory, winning by two shots to become the first player since Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016 to win three in a row. The streak didn’t end there.
Korda went on to play the LPGA’s revamped match-play event in Las Vegas and once again came out on top. She took down Ireland’s Leona Maguire in the finals, winning 4 and 3, to extend the historic run. On Sunday in Houston, Korda officially matched Lopez and Sorenstam, two of the game’s all-time greats, with her fifth title.
Since turning professional in 2016 on the Symetra Tour, Korda has steadily risen in the ranks of women’s golf. She won her first LPGA title in 2018 and her first major at the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship, one year after capturing the Olympic gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
She comes from a family of elite athletes. Her father is former professional tennis player Petr Korda. Her brother Sebastian, 23, currently plays on the ATP and her sister, Jessica, 31, is a six-time LPGA champion.
Korda has battled inconsistent play the past two seasons due to on-and-off injuries, including a blood clot in her arm and lingering back issues. She failed to capture a victory in 2023 while continuing to recover. Feeling healthy and satisfied with her game, the 2024 season has provided a blank slate for Korda.
Each week, she proceeds to execute nothing but seamless, simple golf to etch her name in the record books. It doesn’t look like that’s stopping anytime soon.
“Sometimes golf can get overcomplicated,” Korda said. “There’s a key in the simplicity of it.”
Required reading
- Nelly Korda is the world’s most dominant golfer, plus Deion’s latest exodus
- Can Nelly Korda make history, win the Chevron? How many majors for Scottie Scheffler?
(Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
Gabby Herzig is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering golf. Before joining The Athletic, she worked as a breaking news writer for Sports Illustrated’s golf vertical and a contributing editor at Golf Digest. She is a graduate of Pomona College, where she captained the varsity women’s golf team.
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Garrett D.
· 10h 36m ago
Whoa, Nelly!!!!
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Ursula D.
· 10h 40m ago
Great coverage Gabby!
It was awesome watching Nelly perform down the stretch. Almost holed it on 17 and only had a 7 iron coming in on the (par 5) 18th. She was cool under 🔥
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Dave W.
· 9h 47m ago
For all the handwringing about the state of golf (mostly due to the s show that is professional men’s golf), this is a great time to be a fan. Generational players in the #1 spot on the LPGA and PGA Tours. For me, golf is better when there’s a dominant player vs the field. I’m really looking forward to the remainder of both the LPGA and PGA seasons.
Nelly Korda is the world’s most dominant golfer, plus Deion’s latest exodus
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Good morning! So long, Coyotes.
Hi, I’m Dominant: The legend of Nelly Korda
Nelly Korda finished the first round of Thursday’s Chevron Championship, one of the LPGA’s five majors, at 4-under par, two shots back of leader Lauren Coughlin. Solid, right? In contention. Nice.
There’s so much more to it, though. Two things you might not know about Korda:
- She has won FOUR straight LPGA tournaments, one shy of the tour record.
- She is the best golfer in the world right now not named Scottie Scheffler.
Golf fans know world No. 1 Korda well, but her streak is opening up a new lane of attention with the general sports public. I went to Gabby Herzig, our newest golf writer, for proper context on this ridiculous run of dominance:
I want to get some perspective first. Where does this four-win stretch for Korda rank in the history of women’s golf?
Gabby: It’s up there — Korda’s streak puts her next to some legendary names in the women’s game. Korda just became the first player to win four consecutive starts since Lorena Ochoa in 2008, and an American player has not gone on a run like this in 46 years, since Nancy Lopez’s five-win stretch in 1978. Lopez and Annika Sorenstam are the only players to go 5-for-5 (Sorenstam did it twice). Korda has the chance to match them.
You wrote in our roundtable discussion that a fifth straight win is certainly possible — but I want a prediction. Does she tie the record this weekend?
Gabby: I have faith that she’ll pull off her fifth win this week. Korda has proven she can win under a variety of circumstances. She’s come from behind and she’s blown away the field — she’s simply levels above everyone else right now.
If she does, she heads to the JM Eagle LA Championship with history on the line. She finished top-10 there last year. Would you favor her for six straight?
Gabby: Six consecutive wins sounds like a stretch to me. In her pre-tournament news conference, Korda talked about experiencing some extreme exhaustion last week after the LPGA’s match play event. I wonder if at a certain point, winning this much just isn’t sustainable from a recovery standpoint.
We’ll have more on Korda’s weekend Sunday.
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(Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
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Brian J.
· Fri
Big Nelly fan, but claiming she is the “best golfer in the world right now not named Scottie Scheffler” is patently a false & patronizing statement.
If she was the second best golfer in the world, why would she not join the PGA tour where she would earn far more money & notoriety?
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David B.
· Fri
Good article but not sure why the clickbait title was needed.
Nelly’s doing some incredible things but female participation in golf is a fraction of what the men’s is.
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Kurt W.
· Fri
Massively rooting for Nelly this week but if memory serves at least one of those was a playoff win and another relied on another not quite playing their best stuff?
On the flip side, one could argue that her presence near/at the top of leaderboard provides an intimidation factor to the other players. Scottie winning last week was hugely helped by Collin, Ludvig and Homa’s tribulations at Amen Corner.
All forms of sport are at their best when either there is one dominant player (Tiger, Jordan) or when there is a collective of all timers at the same time (Federer, Nadal, Novak) battling it out.
Can Nelly Korda make history, win the Chevron? How many majors for Scottie Scheffler?
The most dominant forces in golf this year have been Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda.
So, as we all recover from the Masters and prepare for the Chevron Championship, how could we not get together to recap the first major of the year for the men, preview the first for the women, and dig deep into what is possible for both? Scheffler has now won the two biggest events this year on the PGA Tour (the Masters and Players Championship) and arguably the third (Arnold Palmer Invitational). And Korda heads into the Chevron having won her last four LPGA starts, the first player to win four in a row since Lorena Ochoa in 2008. A fifth win would tie her with Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) and Nancy Lopez (1978).
We’ll also take stock of three of the biggest names on the PGA Tour right now, all of whom left the Masters with something to think about.
Can Nelly Korda make it 5-of-5?
Brody Miller: Do I want her to? Absolutely. It would be fantastic for golf. Greatness is incredible to watch, and Korda is the type of player you want to root for and want to see rack up majors. But in reality, I’ll say no. Two of her wins were by playoff. The other two were close. Which isn’t any less impressive. It’s just that golf is such a low-percentage sport that I’m not sure Korda is at the level of dominance (yet) to take over the field.
Gabby Herzig: Yes — the 5-of-5 record-tying streak is certainly attainable for Korda. This run is no fluke. Here’s why: it’s first important to note that seven weeks passed between Korda’s first and second victories, and her game withstood the hiatus from competition flawlessly. Secondly, Korda has also won on an assortment of golf courses and conditions. The 25-year-old prevailed at the narrow and hilly Palos Verdes Golf Club and a firm and gusty Shadow Creek — in a match-play format nonetheless. Korda’s success has been consistent and versatile, and nothing is stopping her from maintaining this level of play. As Korda likes to say, she’s staying in her “bubble.” That locked-in mentality is a staple among the game’s greats, like Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam.
Hugh Kellenberger: Yes she can, and for one of the reasons Gabby just mentioned — this is not a stretch of golf confined to March. She won in January, skipped the LPGA’s Asia swing and then won three straight weeks in March and into April. Given her comments after the match-play win that she just wanted to get to her bed, I’d be worried if she was teeing it up for win No. 5 four days later. But with the benefit of a week off, why not? She’s driving the ball so well right now and has made a considerable upgrade in her iron play. Spoiler: When you find fairways and then hit greens, you’re going to have a lot of birdie chances.
If not Korda, then who wins the Chevron?
Miller: Ayaka Furue. She’s (relatively speaking) a long shot compared to the bigger stars in the field, but Furue is third in the season standings and top 20 in approach, around-the-green, putting, and tee-to-green stats. The tricky thing about the 23-year-old rising star is she racks up solid performances (three major top 10s) but only has one career LPGA win. I’ll say this is her big week.
Herzig: I’m going with Charley Hull. The Englishwoman already has two top 10s this season and she’s had several close calls in major championships. Last season, Hull was runner-up at the AIG Women’s Open and the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. She’s overdue for her maiden major victory. Plus, her speedy pace of play and uncluttered mental game allows her to succeed on the game’s biggest stages.
Kellenberger: If the LPGA is not going to get Korda winning her fifth event in a row, how about Rose Zhang claiming her first major? Zhang has not had the easiest last 6-8 months, balancing some adjustments to her game to adapt to pro competition with continuing to be a student at Stanford. But we’ve also seen her start the LPGA season with a T7, have a top 25 in mid-March and then get to the quarterfinals of match play. Things seem to be rounding into form nicely.
Who are you most worried about after the Masters: Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth or Collin Morikawa?
Miller: Justin Thomas for sure. For many reasons.
One, Morikawa actually had an awesome week. Interestingly, he split with coach Mark Blackburn right before the Masters and still played in the final group Sunday. I’m probably more on the side that I’m not sure Morikawa will ever be a week-in, week-out stud, but I still have faith he’s among the best players.
And even Spieth, it’s more about blowup holes and Spieth’s erratic nature that’s always been part of the package (although his wrist is clearly something to follow. It’s been bugging him for months).
But JT is something else entirely. It’s far more mental. The split with his caddie, Bones Mackay. The tears after a Friday blowup at the Masters. The strangest part is his swing is back on track after 2023 (jumping from 0.44 SG approach back to 0.89), but his putting has fallen off a cliff. He needs to step back and get things in order. That’s easier said than done.
GO DEEPER
How Scottie Scheffler took down the only men who could stop him at the Masters
Herzig: Spieth immediately hit the self-eject button at Augusta National with an opening-round 79, which included a quadruple bogey nine on No. 15. That implosion feels the most concerning to me. The wrist could be the problem, but after watching Spieth at the Masters, it’s clear he’s also just a lost and confused golfer right now. Before teeing it up at Augusta, Spieth claimed that his game is better than his recent results have demonstrated. I’m not sure that’s the case — Spieth looked baffled at a course that he knows inside and out, where he’s won and has finished in the top 3 four times. No more excuses, it might be time for a Spieth reckoning.
Kellenberger: Morikawa left Augusta saying that he knows now what he has to do to get past Scottie Scheffler. Now whether or not he can actually do that is a whole separate thing … but he’s going to chase that feeling for a while.
Spieth is Spieth: He’s going to hit some terrible shots in any tournament, ones that light up X and make you just shake your head. Into the rain gutter, anyone? They interrupt even his good golf. But my expectations are also just so much lower for Spieth than the other two in this group — to borrow a line from The Fried Egg’s Andy Johnston, Spieth is just a guy.
Thomas is the problem. He looks lost, totally and completely. Whatever the circumstances of the split with Mackay are, it’s not going to make Thomas better. He won a major two years ago. He’s still only 30. It just feels like at a moment where we should be wondering how many more majors and big-deal events he can win, I’m instead wondering what rock bottom looks like.
Over/under: Scottie Scheffler’s 2024 majors win at 2.5
Miller: Two and a half! So high. Anyone in their right mind has to play the math and say under…
But I won’t. I’m that all in. I think Scheffler laps the field at Pinehurst with his combination of iron play and short game on those difficult to control greens. And he hasn’t necessarily done as well as links courses as others (relatively speaking), but I’ll pick him at Troon. Eventually, Scheffler’s run will slow down. These runs always do. But I don’t think it will be this year. This will be his iconic season we talk about for decades. That’s right. Scottie wins three!
GO DEEPER
Scottie Scheffler's second Masters win is what greatness looks like
Herzig: I’m all aboard the Scottie train, but I think two major victories this year are realistic. The Masters was always going to be a runaway victory for Scheffler, especially as a past champion with advantageous length off the tee and world-class accuracy from the fairway. I think he’ll win one more this season. The Open Championship is a toss-up with the weather, and the PGA Championship at Valhalla will be just a few weeks removed from the birth of his first child. I agree with Brody: Scheffler will thrive at Pinehurst, where a premium will be placed on precision and missing shots in the right spots. He’ll win by several shots again as his chasers crumble under pressure.
Kellenberger: I think the answer is two, but man oh man do I want Scottie Scheffler to win the PGA Championship next month at Valhalla and set up all the grand slam talk heading into Pinehurst. Men’s pro golf needs someone to get behind right now and create a moment, and Scheffler is our best shot. No pressure, Scottie.
(Top photo of Nelly Korda: Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)
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Ursula D.
· Thu
Yes, Nelly will make history.
Scottie will win 13 majors.
C
Ce S.
· Thu
I really appreciate the Athletic's golf coverage, especially the quality of the writing. With that said, why is the LPGA coverage so spotty and inconsistent? The first time I read of Korda's streak is after the third victory. Now an article about going for number 5. How difficult is it to have a quick summary of the weekly LPGA action? Or maybe, a weekly world golf roundup?
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Jonathan L.
· Thu
No one would be surprised if Scheffler wound up with a dozen majors or thereabouts. Right now no one would be too surprised if he runs the table this year. I don't see anyone other than Hovland last year matching his game (and what the heck has happened to him this year?).
Rory has the tee game but his irons are erratic this year and his putting too. Morikawa doesn't have the tee shot that Scheffler has and although he is supposed to be accurate with his irons...he's no Scheffler. Nobody really matches up against Scheffler right now. Oh, Hovland of '23 where are you?
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