With grace and fighting spirit, Nelly Korda's historic golfing dominance is burning up the LPGA golf circuit in 2024. On Sunday, the 25-year-old from Bradenton won the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, NJ.
The win marked the sixth time in seven tournaments this year that Korda has hoisted the championship hardware. Last week, she finished tied for seventh at the Cognizant Founders Cup at Upper Montclair Country Club.
This latest victory was once again achieved in dramatic fashion, on the final hole of the last round against co-leader Hannah Green.
On the 18th tee, Australia's Green sent her tee shot into the left rough while Korda's more accurate drive landed mid-fairway. With the crowded gallery watching the action and the Statue of Liberty about a mile away in the harbor, Green's approach shot then dropped into the rough, just short of the left greenside bunker, leaving Green to try a difficult pitch shot that she would then hit to about 15 feet of the pin. With the advantage now, Korda capitalized. Her long birdie putt just missed by less than two inches. After Korda tapped in for par and -14 for the tournament. Green then needed to convert a long putt to force a playoff.
Green missed by a couple of feet and then two-putted for -13, and Korda earned her sixth championship and fourteenth career LPGA title. After hugging Green and the junior champion Gianna Clemente, who was in her threesome, Korda ran over to the ropes to embrace her low-key parents, Petr and Regina, who quietly and inconspicuously followed her for all 72 holes over the four days.
“Oh, my gosh, six, I can't even really gather myself right now with that, the head-to-head that Hannah and I had pretty much all day,” said Korda, who collected a check for $450,000 of the total $3,000,000 purse. “It was just amazing to share the stage with Hannah. I consider her a pretty good friend out here, and it was a lot of fun going head-to-head against her.”
Earlier in the week, Korda said she tries to compete with the "grace" of Roger Federer and the "fighting spirit" of Rafael Nadal.
“Definitely way more Nadal today versus Federer. There was not much grace in my game. There was a lot of the fight out there with it being a head-to-head battle all the way down 18. That's what makes sports so great, that even though you don't have your best stuff you can still grind it out and you feel the adrenaline, you feel all the feelings going down 18. I mean, I felt sick to my stomach coming down 18 because I knew it was a tight battle. We were both tied at the top. It was a tough tee shot coming down 18. Just a tough hole in general. Yeah, I just think that there is no greater thing than to battle it out when you don't have your best stuff.”
Korda has now earned $2,943,708 in 2024 and $11,880,981 in her professional career which commenced eight years ago in 2016. Her previous five titles this year were won in Bradenton, Las Vegas, Houston, Arizona and California.
The longest win streak in golf history was by Byron Nelson in 1945 when he won eleven straight golf tournaments, nine in successive weeks. Tiger Woods achieved the second-longest win streak with seven titles in a row in 2006-2007. Woods also won six straight in 1999-2000, and Ben Hogan won six in a row in 1948.
Korda will take next week off and spend time with family in Florida. Then, the following week, May 30-June 2, Korda will try to win the US Open for the first time. The 2024 LPGA US Open will be contested at Lancaster Golf Club in Lancaster, PA, with a total purse of $12,000,000.
