The Olympic champion and Scottie Scheffler both enjoyed historic runs earlier in 2024. While Scheffler claimed four wins out of five tournaments on the PGA Tour,
Korda put together five consecutive LPGA Tour victories to match the record jointly held by Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05).
The last golfer before that, male or female, to win on five consecutive starts was Tiger Woods in 2007-08.
Interest in the women’s game is rising in popularity largely thanks to Korda’s exploits.
When she won her fifth consecutive title of 2024 – and her second major – at the Chevron Championship, a peak 1.9 million viewers tuned in.
That made it the most watched Chevron – formerly known as the ANA Inspiration – since 2010.
After her final round, the American said, “We need a stage. We need to be on primetime TV, and we need to showcase the talent we have here which is a lot.”
Like Caitlin Clark in the WNBA, the 26-year-old is bringing a new audience to her sport.
NELLY KORDA: A WINNING STREAK TO REMEMBER
In late January, Korda beat two-time Olympic medallist Lydia Ko in a play-off to win the LPGA Drive On Championships in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida. On her next start, she won another play-off – against Ryann O’Toole – to take the Fir Hills Seri Park Championship and return to number one in the world.
Then followed victory at the Ford Championship and the T-Mobile Match Play, before Korda clinched her second major title at the Chevron Championship.
After only finishing tied for seventh at the Founders Cup, she returned to winning ways at the Americas Open for her sixth win in seventh tournaments.
Such was her dominance that, on the official world rankings, her lead over second-placed Lilian Vu was bigger than the gap between Vu and the last of 1,620 players on the list.
In her first eight LPGA events of 2024, Korda led the tour with a 69.2 scoring average, 76 per cent of greens hit in regulation, and 20 rounds in the 60s.
WHAT HAPPENED TO NELLY KORDA AFTER HER WINNING RUN?
The daughter of former Australian Open tennis champion Petr Korda arrived at the US Women’s Open as the hot favourite to add to her list of honours.
But things quickly turned sour for the world number one at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania. On the third hole of her opening round, the par-3 12th, Korda found the water three times as she took 10 in a round of 80. She had also shot 80 in her final round of the 2023 US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. “Just a bad day in the office,” Korda reflected afterwards.
After missing the cut by one stroke at the Meijer LPGA Classic, worse was to follow at the Women’s PGA Championship in Seattle. Korda opened with a 69, but started her second round with four consecutive bogeys including two missed par-putts from short range.
At the 6th, a three-wood from the rough merely skimmed along the ground and failed to make the fairway as her round went from bad to worse. Six bogeys saw her card 42 on the outward nine, and a double-bogey at 15 dropped her to 10-over for the round. She was captured on camera crying before birdying the last for an 81, her worst round as a professional, which meant a third consecutive missed cut.
A day later, she was bitten by a dog in a cafe and forced to miss the defence of her Aramco Team Series London title on the Ladies European Tour.
Things did improve for Korda as she shot three under-par rounds at the Evian Championship to finish tied for 26th alongside Vu and Canadian star Brooke Henderson. However, she was still 12 shots off the pace as Japan’s Furue Ayaka secured a first major title.
NELLY KORDA SEEKS REVIVAL AT PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES
Korda ended the Evian Championship with a birdie and an eagle to finish an up-and-down week on a positive note.
“Hopefully that’s… give me a nice boost into my next event, which is in three weeks, though, so not really,” she commented afterwards.
Ahead of the tournament, she told reporters, “I think I’ve gone through every emotion possible, and it’s just July. You know, I love this game. I love the bad, I love the good.
“The bad makes you appreciate the good, and that’s just how it is. It’s sports. If you care so deeply about it, you’re just going to go through the wave of the roller coaster.”
A more forgiving course setup at Le Golf National should help her in her bid for back-to-back Olympic golds.
Out of 18 professional stroke play victories, three of which were over 54 holes as opposed to 72, 17 have seen Korda finish double-figures under-par. The only exception was March’s Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship where she ended up on nine-under.
In contrast to severe tests like at the US Women’s Open, Olympic competitions have yielded more than their fair share of birdies. Inbee Park shot 16-under to win at Rio 2016 with Korda winning at Tokyo 2020 with 17-under.
While she is “a little sad” that sister Jessica will not compete alongside her as in Tokyo, Nelly Korda is “excited” to go for gold again.
She said, “Any time I get to represent my country is just such a really big honour. To get to do that at the Olympics is going to be an amazing experience again.”
A successful title defence would only attract more fans to the women’s golf bandwagon and increase demand for the “stage” she has talked of.
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Source: Tampa Bay Times
