Admin April 1, 2024
Here comes a healthy Nelly Korda. Her dominant bogey-free 65 Sunday to win the Ford Championship at 20 under par earned the World No. 1 her third consecutive LPGA victory. The run includes a seven-week gap between wins at the LPGA Drive On Championship in January and last week’s Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship.
Korda’s 11th career title adds her name to a list of some of the LPGA’s all-time greats. The 25-year-old is the first American to win three consecutive events since Nancy Lopez in 1978. She is the first American to win three tournaments before April since Joanne Carner in 1980. And Korda has only made four starts this year, her first fully healthy campaign since 2021.
“To get three in a row, that’s just a dream come true,” Korda said.
In 2021, however, when Korda was healthy, she was dominant. The Bradenton, Fla., native won four times that year, including the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the Olympic gold medal.
Korda explained that while she was healthy in both 2021 and 2024, there are two differences between now and three years ago—she has a stronger body and a refined mental approach. During her seven-week break, Korda explained she prioritized her fitness and strengthened her body more this year than in the past. Korda also feels she brings a more mature approach to the game.
“Some of the decisions that maybe Jay (McDede, her caddie) and I would make on the golf course being a little riskier we don’t try to do in contention,” Korda said.
That wisdom showed down the stretch at Seville Golf and Country Club in Gilbert, Ariz.. Korda started Sunday two off the lead amidst a crowded leaderboard, teeing off three groups ahead of the leaders. At the start of the final round, 15 players were within two strokes of first place. Korda took the outright lead at 18 under on the 13th with her fourth birdie of the day. On No. 15, she was tied with Lexi Thompson and rookie Hira Naveed after they both made birdie to catch Korda.
The three-way tie set up for Korda to do what she calls ‘Nelly things’ at the end, where she’d be helter-skelter at the finish but come away with the victory. Instead, her opponents faltered while Korda closed steadily. She decided to lay up with a 7-wood on the par-4 300-yard 16th hole. Earlier in the week, she hit driver and found the water.
After reaching the center of the fairway, Korda had 108 yards in and nearly holed out with a controlled pitching wedge into the wind. She birdied the hole to reclaim the outright lead, which she would never relinquish.
Thompson, searching for her first LPGA victory since the 2019 Shoprite LPGA Classic, drove it into the water on the 16th and ended with bogey. She missed a three-footer for par on the 17th to fall two behind. The 11-time LPGA champion ended up in a five-way tie for third, her best finish since a runner-up at the 2022 Pelican Women’s Championship when she lost to Korda.
“A lot of positives to take from this week, especially going into a major,” Thompson said. “But I have two weeks and I know what I need to work on.”
Naveed needed birdie on the par-5 18th but did not do so despite getting near the green in two. The Pepperdine alum, after making the cut on the number, settled for a final-round 66 to finish runner-up in her second career LPGA start.
“She’s an amazing player,” Naveed said of Korda. “To share the stage with her is really an honor.”
Korda birdied the 18th to pull away, watching from the clubhouse while having a cup of soup to warm up on the chilly, damp day.
Securing the title is another step toward a career year for a healthy Korda.
“It’s easy to compare for sure, but I think that the golf that I’m playing right now, hopefully it leads me to the year that I had in 2021 or better,” Korda said.
