Nelly Korda Makes It Five in a Row With LPGA Major Title at the Chevron
The world No. 1 won her second career major and joins Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam as winners of five straight events.
Make it five in a row for Nelly Korda. With a major exclamation point.
The world No. 1 won the Chevron Championship with a final-round 69 at the Club at Carlton Woods, securing the first LPGA major of the year by two shots and extending the longest win streak in the sport.
Korda, 25, has won five consecutive starts on the LPGA Tour, a feat not achieved since Annika Sorenstam did it in 2004-05 and Nancy Lopez in 1978. And like Sorenstam, Korda bagged a major for win No. 5.
“I can finally breathe now,” she said, before taking the winner's traditional leap into a greenside pond. “That was like the longest back nine of my entire life.”
Korda plays fast but this major championship Sunday was far from it, and a four-shot lead at the start of the back nine eventually was whittled to one after Maja Stark, playing one group ahead, nearly eagled the par-5 18th but birdied to get to 11 under.
The winning margin was two after Korda poured in a birdie of her own.
“There’s a key in the simplicity I play … sometimes golf can get overcomplicated,” said Korda, whose lucky number is 13 and the Chevron title was her 13th on the LPGA Tour.
It’s been pretty simple for her since late January, when she won the LPGA Drive On Championship in Florida. Then, after sitting out the Tour’s three-event Asian swing, Korda won three times in three consecutive weeks in California, Arizona and Nevada, finally getting a week off last week. She said she didn’t leave her house for the first two days.
But once back at work, she remained focused with the chance to add a second major to her resume. Korda won the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship and her best major finish since had been a third at last year's Chevron.
More rest will have to wait. She’s in the field for next week’s JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club, where a year ago she finished T6 and two shots out of a playoff. Now she’ll be looking for a record sixth straight win.
