Nelly Korda has won her fifth straight title on Sunday at The Chevron Championship, winning by two shots over Sweden's Maja Stark at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, TX.
The American finished the last seven holes of her third round on Sunday morning, parring in to post a 3-under 69 and sit in a tie for second alongside Canada's Brooke Henderson, one shot back of 54-hole leader Haeran Ryu of South Korea.
Teeing-it-up in the final group just two-and-a-half hours later, she parred the first two holes before picking up a pair of back-to-back birdies from the 3rd to lead by two shots at 12-under. The 25-year-old grabbed another birdie on the par-5 8th hole to get to 13-under overall, parring the 9th hole to turn in 33 with a three-shot advantage. Korda made another birdie on the par-4 10th to move to 14-under overall before making her first bogey of the round on 11 and drop back to 13-under, the first shot Korda had given back to the field since she bogeyed the 7th hole on Friday.
First round leader Lauren Coughlin of the United States was charging up the leaderboard, making birdies on the 10th and 11th ahead of Korda to get within two shots of the lead. She gave Korda a litle breathing room after bogeys on the 16th and 17th, and with just a handful of holes to play, Korda held a four-shot lead. But the 12-time LPGA Tour winner stumbled again with a bogey on the par-5 15th hole, and after Coughlin made a bounce-back birdie on the par-5 18th hole to post at 10-under total, Korda held a two-shot lead with three holes left to play.
“The headspace that we were in was take it a shot at a time. I bogeyed No. 11 after chipping in on 10, and then I hit it into the water on 15. Those mistakes kind of -- you start to put a litle bit more pressure on yourself that you don't know what the other girls are doing ahead of you. You only know what the two girls that are playing in the same group are doing,” said Korda.
After parring the 16th hole, Korda nearly dunked her tee shot on the par-3 17th for an ace, ultimately two-putting for par to lead by two shots with just 18 standing between her and the Dinah Shore Trophy. But, just one group ahead, Stark was increasing the pressure on Korda. Sitting at 8-under for most of the day thanks to 12-straight pars, she was pretty much out of the conversation for the majority of the back nine, even when she finally made her first birdie the 13th. But, when she birdied the 17th hole and nearly pitched in for eagle on the par-5 18th hole, things started to get interesting. She tapped in for birdie to post at 11-under and finished the round just one shot back of Korda, who had one hole left to play.
Korda wasn’t fazed though, piping her drive down the middle of the fairway and then putting her second shot on the back fringe within 30 feet of the hole for eagle. She ran her eagle try past the whole by a couple of feet, but handily made the nervy come-backer for birdie to win her second major title and first since the 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship with a four-day total of 13-under.
“It's just been a crazy, crazy, crazy couple of weeks, with some really solid golf. I can finally breathe,” said Korda in her winning press conference, still damp from her leap into the lake by 18. “I was really nervous on that back nine. I really, really wanted this win. It feels amazing to get it. My first-ever major, competing in a major, was at the U.S. Women's Open at Sebonack, and that was when I dreamt of winning major championships. To have two under my belt now is a dream come true.”
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With her 13th career victory, Korda is now the 31st different American to earn 13 or more wins on the LPGA Tour and is the 52nd player ever to win two or more major titles, becoming the ninth player in LPGA Tour history to win at least both the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and The Chevron Championship. She joins Nancy Lopez and Annika Sörenstam as the only other player since 1978 to win five consecutive titles and will have a chance to top that pair next week as Korda is currently scheduled to play in the JM Eagle LA Championship.
“I'm going to enjoy this right now, and then I'll think about that,” smiled Korda. “It's been an amazing time. Hopefully, I’ll keep the streak alive. But I've been so grateful to compete week in and week out and get the five in a row.”
