PGA Tour star Scottie Scheffler, who received his second inexperienced jacket on the Masters final week, is not the one world No. 1 golfer dominating an expert tour proper now.
Nelly Korda, No. 1 within the Rolex Girls’s World Golf Rating, has received in 4 consecutive begins on the LPGA Tour, changing into the primary golfer since Lorena Ochoa in 2008 to perform the feat. Korda is the primary American golfer since Kathy Whitworth in 1969 to seize victories in 4 of her first 5 LPGA begins in a season.
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At this week’s Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas, the primary main championship of the season in ladies’s skilled golf, Korda will try and change into solely the third golfer in LPGA Tour historical past to win in 5 consecutive begins — Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2004-05) had been the others.
Even Scheffler, who captured his first 9 PGA Tour victories since February 2022 and has already received thrice this season, is not profitable at Korda’s present tempo.
Korda, 25, mentioned she has been impressed by Scheffler’s run the previous three seasons.
“I imply, gosh, I do not assume anybody can ever say something dangerous about Scottie,” Korda mentioned. “I really like his morals, I really like his angle on the market. I simply love the best way he goes about his enterprise. He evokes so many round him, together with myself.
“So yeah, clearly, as he even mentioned, he needs to win each match he tees it up in. That is each woman that is out right here competing, too. I believe that you just simply need to go about your enterprise. You may get misplaced within the articles, misplaced within the expectations, however I believe should you simply follow your true self, I really feel like you may dwell in your individual bubble and luxuriate in it much more.”
Korda has lengthy been thought-about among the best gamers in golf. She has received 12 instances on the LPGA Tour and thrice in Europe. In 2021, Korda received 4 tournaments, together with her first main on the KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Membership. Later that summer time in Tokyo, she turned the primary American ladies’s golfer to win a gold medal within the Olympics since Margaret Abbott in 1900.
Following that breakthrough season, Korda was recognized with a blood clot in her left arm and wanted surgical procedure in April 2022. She battled COVID-19 earlier that 12 months and ended up lacking about 4 months of the season. Final 12 months, she was sidelined for a couple of month due to a lower-back harm and by no means regained her type. She did not win in 2023, her first marketing campaign in three years and not using a victory.
“Yeah, in 2021 I went on a run, after which in 2022 and 2023 golf actually humbled me,” Korda mentioned. “I believe [in] sports activities, there are ups and downs. Each athlete goes by way of the curler coaster, and that’s what makes the game so nice. You mature and develop a lot and study extra about your self. You by no means take these weeks without any consideration.”
What has made Korda’s present streak so spectacular is the numerous methods wherein she has received this season.
“Yeah, I do not assume I can put a scale to what she’s achieved,” LPGA professional Rose Zhang mentioned. “That is actually simply such an unbelievable feat. There is just one Nelly Korda, and I believe she actually reveals how she’s the perfect proper now within the sport. Even rising up I’ve all the time watched her play. There was clearly one thing particular about her. So to see her do all that she’s carried out, particularly the final 4 occasions, it has been actually inspiring. It is so troublesome and it is so uncommon.”
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After tying for sixteenth within the season-opening Hilton Grand Holidays Event of Champions in Orlando, Florida, on Jan. 21, Korda received the following week on the LPGA Drive On Championship in Bradenton, Florida. She got here again from a 3-stroke deficit by carding an eagle and birdie on the ultimate two holes to pressure a playoff. She defeated Lydia Ko on the second playoff gap to win in her hometown.
Korda skipped the LPGA Tour’s Asian swing and took seven weeks off from competitors. When she returned in late March, she battled Augusta Nationwide-like winds and chilly temperatures on the West Coast on the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship. Korda made bogeys on her final two holes to fall right into a playoff, wherein she beat Ryann O’Toole on the primary further gap with a 12-foot birdie. Korda returned to No. 1 on this planet for the sixth time in her profession.
The subsequent week on the Ford Championship introduced by KCC in Gilbert, Arizona, Korda posted a 7-under 65 within the closing spherical — in regular rain no much less — to win her third straight match by 2 strokes. She turned the primary American ladies’s golfer to get to 3 victories earlier than April 1 since JoAnne Carner in 1980.
Two weeks in the past on the T-Cell Match Play introduced by MGM Rewards in Las Vegas, Korda struggled early within the 54-hole stroke play competitors to even advance to the match-play knockout rounds. She carded a 1-over 73 in every of the primary two rounds earlier than rallying for a 3-under 69 within the closing spherical. She beat Angel Yin and Narin An to advance to a championship match in opposition to Eire’s Leona Maguire. Korda took 4 of the primary seven holes and received the match 4 and three.
“That is undoubtedly among the best stretches I believe a participant has performed in my 11 years on tour,” mentioned Ko, a 20-time winner on the LPGA Tour. “For her to win the second occasion of the 12 months and have eight weeks off and win the following three, I used to be like, ‘Man, I should not have performed, all taking part in for second place.'”
Korda’s ballstriking has been on one other degree throughout her profitable streak. Amongst golfers with at the least 30 rounds performed, she ranks first on the LPGA in strokes gained: whole (2.76) and tee to inexperienced (2.21) and second across the inexperienced (.78). She is tenth off the tee (.76) and seventeenth in method (.93).
Her placing is not statistically nearly as good (she ranks forty sixth in strokes gained on the greens) however she has made loads of clutch putts to win.
“I am not stunned, I’ll inform you that,” U.S. Solheim Cup staff captain Stacy Lewis mentioned. “It’s totally spectacular. 4 very completely different golf programs, and the three weeks in a row I believe was essentially the most spectacular. The quantity of vitality it takes to do this, I believed you’d’ve possibly seen somewhat drop in play at match play simply getting somewhat bit extra drained.
“However the ballstriking has all the time been so good for her. Quick sport will get somewhat higher, the arrogance to be in that place. I believe that is what you are seeing extra now. … I knew it was simply going to be a matter of time.”
A number of the most achieved PGA Tour stars have envied Korda’s silky-smooth and seemingly easy swing.
When she competed with PGA Tour gamers on the QBE Shootout in Naples, Florida, in December 2022, Kevin Kisner referred to as her the “Tiger Woods of the LPGA Tour.” After watching her play, Max Homa mentioned, “I do not understand how she doesn’t win each week.”
On the PNC Championship, one other exhibition that groups execs with their dad and mom or kids, Jordan Spieth mentioned he advised his father, Shawn, to “swing like Nelly.”
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“It is like taking part in with Adam Scott,” Spieth mentioned, evaluating Korda to the 2013 Masters champion, who is understood for his almost flawless swing.
In an ideal world, younger golfers in all places could be making an attempt to “swing like Nelly”– identical to they’re now making an attempt to make 3-pointers like former Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark, whose sharp-shooting the previous three seasons introduced document TV scores to the NCAA ladies’s basketball match.
The LPGA is hoping that Korda’s success and the rising recognition of ladies’s sports activities will help it develop. The ultimate two rounds of the Chevron Championship had been broadcast on NBC for the primary time final 12 months and protection will prolong from 4 hours to 6 this 12 months. There’s additionally 40 hours of protection of featured teams on ESPN+. Different non-major tournaments are broadcast on tape delay or solely on streaming.
“I really feel like we simply want a stage,” Korda mentioned. “We must be placed on TV. I really feel like when it is tape delay or something like that, that hurts our sport. Girls’s sports activities simply wants a stage. If we’ve got a stage we will present up and carry out and present individuals what we’re all about.”
LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan acknowledges the distinctive alternative her tour should make the most of. Throughout a information convention on the Chevron Championship on Tuesday, she famous that the LPGA did not have a advertising and marketing division not way back.
Now, it has 4 or 5 individuals serving to publicize the tour’s stars. She mentioned weekly social engagement numbers have improved from about 4 million every week in 2022 to about 11.6 million this 12 months. The LPGA will roll out a brand new web site this fall.
Together with the 4 remaining main championships and the upcoming Olympics in Paris and one other Solheim Cup in Gainesville, Virginia, later this summer time, Korda could have loads of alternatives within the highlight.
“We all the time speak about publicity and funding,” Marcoux Samaan mentioned. “These are the issues we want proper now. There isn’t a doubt that the product is world class. I imply, from Nelly Korda to Lilia [Vu] to Lydia, simply down the leaderboard, these are the perfect ladies on this planet. So our job is to verify individuals know who they’re and ensure individuals can see them.”
Whether or not Korda is aware of it or not, a part of that burden falls on her shoulders, in response to Lewis.
“I believe Nelly does have a accountability, and he or she in all probability does not all the time need it, simply figuring out her,” Lewis mentioned. “However it’s saying, sure. Persevering with to play nice golf although is No. 1. That is what helps our tour essentially the most is her taking part in nice golf. I might inform her to do not forget that. I might inform her to do as a lot further stuff as you may for us.”
At instances, Korda has been a reluctant famous person. This week, she has talked usually about staying in her “bubble” to keep away from distractions, even when she understands her energy to affect the following era of ladies’s golfers. If Korda retains profitable, maybe it will not be too lengthy earlier than younger women are attempting to “swing it like Nelly” world wide.
“It is an inspiration,” Korda mentioned. “I am hopefully inspiring the following era and hopefully it promotes the sport. Hopefully we proceed to climb up. I simply hope I present individuals how a lot I take pleasure in being out right here week in and week out competing in opposition to all the women, practising, and hopefully that drives extra consideration to us.
“Hear, I really feel like for me, the best way that I promote the sport is simply the best way I’m. I am very true to myself. I am by no means going to do one thing I am not likely snug with. Clearly, I really like seeing all the children and I really like selling the sport. I imply, there may be nothing that I take pleasure in extra. I am all the time going to remain true to myself, and hopefully that method I do promote the sport.”
