When Nelly Korda arrived at the Upper Montclair Country Club last week, she knew she was on the verge of something truly momentous: she had a shot at becoming the first woman to win six consecutive LPGA starts, at the 72-hole Cognizant Founders Cup.
Korda came into the tournament having taken a fortnight off after winning the Chevron Championship. It was her second career Major triumph and her fifth straight title, tying her with Hall of Famers Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) for the tour’s longest winning streak. Byron Nelson holds golf’s all-time mark with 11 straight wins in 1945.
Victory run
Korda started her historic victory run at January’s Drive On Championship in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida, then took a break before winning three times in as many weeks — at March’s Seri Pak and Ford championships and in April’s Match Play tournament.
When she doubled her collection of Majors with the Chevron win, adding to the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship, the buzz around ‘the streak’ grew loud enough for pop culture to take notice. Korda became the first golfer since Tiger Woods to be invited to the Met Gala, the annual event that draws stars from the worlds of fashion, show business and sports.
So when the 25-year-old teed off at the Founders, the centre of all attention, she could have been forgiven for feeling just the tad distracted. After months of near-perfect play, she inexplicably hit bad drives, found bunkers from the fairway and missed short putts.
Rose Zhang, the two-time NCAA champion who won in her professional debut last year, put an official end to Korda’s record-tying LPGA Tour winning streak, but the defeat did not diminish the World No. 1’s achievement in the slightest; if anything, it shone a light on how exceptional it was.
As Zhang pointed out, “I just want to reiterate, it’s so hard winning out here on tour. What Nelly is doing is something quite unheard of, and only two other players have done it before. It’s so difficult and it’s so rare. There is only one Nelly Korda.”
Even in defeat at the Founders, Korda showed glimpses on the tricky Upper Montclair course of why she is such a formidable champion. Faced with a 10-stroke deficit starting her second round in the event that honours the tour’s founding members, she shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 in cold, damp conditions. She eventually finished in a tie for seventh at 7-under.
Korda had no regrets about not making it six in a row. “Just to do that with all the competition out here is super, super rewarding with how much work that I’ve put in. To get a streak like that in any sport is amazing with the amount of talent every athlete has in their sport. Hopefully one day it’ll sink in.”
Athletic stock
Korda comes from good athletic stock — her father Petr, a former tennis player, won the 1998 Australian Open, her brother Sebastian is ranked in the ATP’s top-30 and her sister Jessica is also a professional golfer — but she has married her physical gifts with a winner’s attitude.
A phenomenal ball-striker with a silky-smooth, seemingly effortless swing, Korda has a reputation for using her short game to save par when in trouble. And despite not having tour- leading numbers on the green, she has been known to make clutch putts.
Simplifying her mental game, Korda said, had helped her find the right balance when competing on tour. Thinking too far ahead, she noted, had led her down deep rabbit holes in the past.
“When I’m home, I’m definitely practising a lot more and trying to work on technique,” she said. “When I’m out here, the way I keep it simple is by not overdoing it. Going out, seeing the course, doing my work with my caddie, picking a game plan, and then that’s it. I’ve gotten too caught up before thinking I need to do a little extra. Now, it’s time to just see my shots and execute them.
“Not getting too ahead of myself and taking it a shot at a time. As boring as it sounds or as many times as you’re going to hear me say it, that’s the motto and I’m going to stick to it.”
Korda’s dominant 2024 follows two incredibly challenging seasons, which forced her to dig deep into her reserves of resilience. She started 2022 at No. 1, but then she missed four months with a blood clot in her left arm that required surgery. Struggling to regain her form, Korda went winless on the LPGA Tour last year, a campaign that was interrupted by a back injury.
“In 2022 and 2023, golf really humbled me,” she said. “[In] sports, there are ups and downs. Every athlete goes through the roller coaster, and that is what makes the sport so great. You mature and grow so much and learn more about yourself.”
Handling success
One thing Korda has been forced to learn about very quickly is handling success — both on the course and off it. “It’s very hard mentally to be 100% after a win, especially playing in tough conditions. [It] just honestly feels like a blur. You have to take it day by day, stay very present.”
Perhaps the bigger challenge for the reticent Korda is dealing with her new-found celebrity. Arguably the face of the LPGA, she is finding herself in unfamiliar surroundings having to do things that don’t involve swinging a golf club.
She embraced it at the Met Gala, turning out in a red floral gown designed by Oscar de la Renta. “It was so, so crazy,” she said. “You’re seeing all these people you usually watch in TV shows or movies and they’re like famous singers and you’re starstruck the entire time. It was really, really neat to step outside of my comfort zone and do something like that.”
But Korda also said that it was important for her to stay true to herself, not change because of the pressures of promoting the women’s game.
“Listen, I feel like for me, the way that I promote the game is just the way I am. I’m never going to do something I’m not really comfortable with. I love seeing all the kids and I love promoting the game. I just hope I show people how much I enjoy being out here week in and week out competing against all the girls, practising, and hopefully that drives more attention to us.”
Having already made history in 2024, Korda is eyeing more success. “We have some really amazing golf courses lined up for some of the Majors. Not just that, hopefully with the Olympics and Solheim [Cup]... It’s a big year,” said Korda, who is the defending Olympic gold medallist. “I’m not going to get too ahead of myself, but there is a lot of exciting stuff lined up.”
