Is Nelly Korda the best golfer on the planet right now? Is this even a matter of opinion anymore?
The American forged her way through each round of the T-Mobile Match Play and brushed aside Leona Maguire in the final to win her fourth consecutive LPGA Tour title in 2024.
Storming past Angel Yin, Narin An and then the small matter of beating Maguire 4&3 in the championship match has led Korda into a new realm of superstardom where she is now being compared to some of the greats of the women’s game.
She is the first American player to win in four or more consecutive tournaments since Nancy Lopez in 1978 and she has become just the third player in the last 40 years to win four titles on the trot, with the other two being Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa.
If being compared to the likes of Sorenstam and Ochoa isn’t enough, how about being mentioned in the same sentence as Kathy Whitworth, a figure who won 88 times in her LPGA Tour career and is the most winningest professional golfer ever?
“Kathy’s really good friend actually texted me last week a photo of me being compared to Kathy on social media. I wrote her back that it’s an honour to be alongside her,” Korda said after becoming the second American player after Whitworth to win four of her first five starts of an LPGA Tour season.
“I used to play in her event growing up, The Kathy Whitworth Invitational in Texas, and meeting her and getting to talk to her was always the highlight of my year. She was always so, so nice, so getting compared to Kathy Whitworth is a huge honour.”
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Nelly Korda: LPGA Tour star is going from strength to strength
There has never been a question about Korda’s ability to close out tournaments on the LPGA Tour. She is 12 wins down the line at the age of 25 since joining the circuit in 2017.
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But you could argue one frustration, as much as it is surrounded by excellence, is her major championship trophy cabinet which still only houses the Women’s PGA Championship title of 2021.
Since winning her first major at Atlanta Athletic Club, she has made four top-10 finishes in the women’s game’s top five events. Before winning the PGA three years ago, Korda had also racked up three top-three finishes in the majors.
The Chevron Championship is next on the schedule which Lilia Vu won last year. Korda will be the favourite to lift the first major title of the women’s calendar as she has established herself at the top of the world rankings, namely the Rolex Rankings, and possibly as the best golfer on any tour as of now.
You could argue Korda is a victim of her own success in the short term. The aftermath of her fourth consecutive victory at Shadow Creek Golf Club will likely be drowned out by the build-up and the start of the Masters at Augusta National, where young Englishwoman Lottie Woad put on a show of her own at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
“I don’t know if it’s going to hit me when I get home, but I feel really good,” Korda added. “Thankfully, I have a lot of consistency in my life. I see the same people every single day. I do the same stuff every single day. I try to stay in my own little bubble, and I feel like mentally that’s the best thing that you can do for your mental health is stay in a routine.
“I love competing. I love golf. I, hopefully, am inspiring the next generation. But there is no greater thrill for me than competing and being out here and seeing the girls and going head-to-head for a title. There is no greater feeling, and I have to say I love the sport so much, and I love competing.”
Golf fans will likely look to Scottie Scheffler, the recent Players Championship winner and hot favourite for the Green Jacket, in the conversation about who is the best golfer in the world, but not even he has achieved the amount of regular, consecutive appearances in the PGA Tour winner’s circle as Korda has in her own sphere.
Once the roadshow in Georgia this week is over, Korda will have the golf world’s undivided attention again when she heads to The Club at Carlton Woods on April 18 as golf’s most dominant player, and on the hunt for a stunning fifth win in a row and a second a major title.
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