Nelly Korda is simply unstoppable.
For the fifth time in as many starts, Korda is a champion. From Florida to California, Arizona to Nevada, and now in Texas, no one has bested the 25-year-old in nearly three months. You thought Scottie Scheffler’s run was impressive? Korda has done him one better.
“It’s everything that I always wanted as a little girl,” Korda said. “To lift that major trophy. I can finally breathe now and just enjoy the moment.”
Korda entered the week at the Chevron Championship the heavy favorite to win the first women’s major of the year. Coming off four wins in a row will do that. From the very start, she showed the gutsy resolve that has been crucial to her historic run.
On Thursday, she was even par with six holes to play. She birdied four of her last six to post 68. The next day, she began the round with a double bogey. She ripped off six birdies (and made just one bogey) over her final 17 holes to get to to seven under and within a stroke of the 36-hole lead.
“It takes a lot of patience to win,” Korda said. “I just never give up. No matter, what no matter how much adversity is thrown your way, they know that I never give up and I give it my all.”
With her sights set on the leaders after 36 holes, Korda patiently waited to make her move. Saturday ended after just 11 holes with thunderstorms cutting the third round short, and after finishing up her early Sunday morning, she was still just a shot back.
“You just kind of have to adjust to whatever is thrown your way,” Korda said. “You just [have] to adapt to the situation you [are] in right now.”
Korda had no trouble in that regard. Playing in the final threesome alongside Brooke Henderson and 54-hole leader Hae Ran Ryu, Korda took the lead within the first three holes — and it was a lead she would never relinquish. She went out in three-under 33 and stretched her lead to as many as four midway through the final round.
American Lauren Coughlin put some late pressure on her with a four-under 68 (the low round of the afternoon) to post 10 under, and Maja Stark made a late charge to get to 11 under, but Korda did not flinch.
On a day when just three player broke 70, Korda posted the second-best round of the day to keep her competitors from overtaking her. By the time she tapped in on 18 to finish off her final-round 69, Korda was etching her name in the record books.
“That felt like the longest back nine of my entire life,” Korda said. “It was a little bit of a grind on the back nine, but happy to get the win.”
With the win, Korda becomes just the third woman (joining Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez) to win five LPGA tournaments in a row. Most importantly though, it marks her second career major title.
“I think there’s a key in the simplicity that I have when I play,” she said. “I just take it a shot at a time and we pick a game plan when we get to the course and we work and we stay in our own little bubble. It’s been working so far.”
If it keeps working, there’s no telling how many more are to come.
