Nelly Korda (-18) has conquered this Sunday the The Chevron Championship. By demolition. Imperial. Not a single doubt. By four strokes. The 27-year-old American golfer has claimed the first major of the season with a huge five-stroke advantage. It was one of the greatest displays in the history of the majors. After each of the four rounds she was leading by two strokes or more. Another level. Another dimension.
Nelly started Sunday with a five-stroke lead and the closest her rivals got was to four. She didn’t even leave them a consolation. The only mildly tense moment came at the 12th hole. The champion still had a delicate par putt and the Chinese Ruoning Yin (-13), the only one who really gave the impression she could have put pressure on the American, had a relatively gettable birdie putt. If the fluke had fallen, the difference would have been reduced to three, but of the two possibilities only Korda’s bogey materialised.
Nelly’s response to that single tricky moment was a spectacular birdie at 13. She found the fairway, hit a sensational wedge to the green and left it close. Back to normal. The situation was back under control. Ruoning Yin lacked the touch on the greens to truly have a chance of unsettling Korda. The rest of the round had little drama. Truly, the most interesting question was whether Korda would beat the tournament record of Dottie Pepper from 1999 (-19), which she did not, and who would finish in second, an honour that was shared by Patty Tavatanakit and Ruoning Yin at -13.
It is Nelly Korda’s third major of her career. She is the first American woman to reach this figure since Meg Mallon in 2000. It’s been a while. In addition, she enters a rather exclusive club: American women who have won three majors before turning 28: Patty Berg, Louise Suggs, Betsy Rawls, Mickey Wright, Kathy Whitworth and Amy Alcott. All are part of the history of women’s golf in the United States. Nelly Korda is, without doubt, the great icon of women’s golf today, that player who could draw the public, by comparison, as Tiger Woods did in his day. That said, to do so she needs more consistency than she has shown so far. Her appeal is undeniable. Lebron James, for example, reached out on social media during the final round to send her a message of support. It is also her seventeenth victory on the LPGA Tour and she regains the world No. 1 spot ahead of Jeeno Thitikul.
As for the Spaniards, Carlota Ciganda (-4) produced a sensational Sunday charge to finish in twelfth place, just one stroke off the top 10. The Navarrese carded a 69, with five birdies and an eagle. That spot among the top ten slipped away with two untimely bogeys on her closing holes (15 and 17).
Meanwhile, Julia López (+1) finished in 45th place with a final round of 74, and Andrea Revuelta (+4) and Paula Martín (+4) finished tied in 59th with cards of 74 and 76. The leading amateurs were, tied for 39th, the American Farah O’Keefe and the Korean Yunseo Yang, both at even par.
Of course, Nelly Korda followed tradition and jumped, on this occasion into an artificial pool, to celebrate her victory
