Nelly Korda demolished the field at the Chevron Championship by winning her first major of the year – and made golf history in the process while earning herself £1million
Nelly Korda made golf history on Sunday night after she won her fifth LPGA Tour event in a row, scooping a healthy £1million prize fund after storming to victory at the Chevron Championship.
Korda has been on fire this year, and had won her four previous tournaments going into the first major of the season at The Woodlands, Texas. She put in a blistering performance throughout the weekend, scoring below 70 in every round on her way to a two-stroke win.
After finishing two strokes ahead of Maja Stark, Korda made history by becoming just the second woman in history to win five events in a row. Only Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez have won five events in five consecutive starts, and Korda will have the chance togo one ahead at the JM Eagle LA Championship next week.
Speaking afterwards, Korda opened up on how she dealt with the pressure of going for history while trying to fend off Stark. She said: “I can finally breathe now. That back nine felt like the longest back nine of my entire life. It was a little bit of a grind on the back nine but happy to get the win.”
Korda couldn’t hide her emotion after walking away with the second major championship of her career, having earned a whopping £1m in winnings – £1.93 ($2.4m) for the season – she’s now become the fastest player to reach £1.6m ($2m) in a season in LPGA Tour history.
But the US Olympian, who won gold at the 2020 games, expressed she was focused solely on winning and fulfilling a lifelong dream, proving she isn’t fussed about the money. However, she couldn’t hide how terrified she was about
She continued: “It’s a major, it’s everything I wanted as a little girl, to lift that major trophy and, as I said, I can finally breathe now and enjoy the moment! I was so nervous, I felt sick to my stomach.”
Korda, who further cemented her place as the world number one with the win at the Chevron, had a fairly simple response when asked how she stays calm under pressure.
“I think there’s a key in the simplicity, when I play I honestly take it a shot at a time and we pick a game plan when we get to the golf course, we stay and work in our own bubble and it’s been working so far. I feel like maybe sometimes golf can get overcomplicated and there’s a key to the simplicity.”
