Nelly Korda hits her tee shot on Friday on the seventh gap at Upper Montclair Country Club.
Getty Images
Nelly Korda’s streak, Max Homa says, is unsurprising. And but stunning.
Of course she’d string collectively five-straight wins, he thought.
It’s simply that Homa puzzled how Korda would ever lose.
“I remember when we played with her,” the earnest PGA Tour professional stated earlier this week, “I requested her whereas we have been enjoying how anybody ever beats her. I’ve been lucky — I’ve gotten to play with just a few of the ladies on the LPGA. Alison Lee, grew up with her, she’s great; Danielle Kang; a quantity of others. They’re all so good once you watch them follow. I by no means actually performed like a full spherical of golf with any of them, I don’t assume.
“Nelly’s enjoying from our tees and it was great. I bear in mind her reply was I have to go see Lydia Ko play and these others, and I spotted I simply haven’t gotten to see it as a lot. But I used to be pretty curious how she ever does lose as a result of she didn’t miss a golf shot for seven holes and made a bunch of putts and chipped it higher than anyone in the group, so I assume I’m not stunned.
“But from what she stated, it did pique my curiosity that clearly there’s a wealth of expertise on the market, however attending to play with anyone up shut and private for 18 holes from the identical tees, you actually get to soak in what they’re so nice at.
“Yeah, she’s pretty tremendous.”
Indeed. Korda has not misplaced because the center of January. She gained the LPGA Drive On Championship the next week. She gained the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, the Ford Championship and the T-Mobile Match Play in back-to-back-to-back weeks beginning in mid-March. Last month, she gained the Chevron Championship for her second main. The streak is tied for the very best ever in LPGA historical past, equaling the mark set by Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam, each legends. This week, on the Cognizant Founders Cup, Korda goes for the report alone.
But what she as soon as instructed Homa is true.
“These others” can play, whilst she is enjoying quite effectively.
After rounds of three-under 69 and six-under 66 at Upper Montclair Country Club in New Jersey, Korda is third, 4 strokes behind budding celebrity Rose Zhang and Madelene Sagstrom, a three-time member of the European Solheim Cup staff. Zhang, after rounds of 63 and 68, and Sagstrom, after rounds of 65 and 66, are at 13-under.
Still, after per week the place Korda was all over the place — on Monday, she was on the Met Gala (the Met Gala!), on Tuesday, she did an interview with ESPN — and the streak was the discuss of seemingly everybody, Korda performed seemingly undeterred on Friday. She showcased her complete bag. There have been few errors.
Korda birdied 1. Then 2. Then 5 on a 10-footer. Then 7 on an 8-footer. She parred the following six holes, however then she birdied 14 after dropping a wedge to five ft. She parred 15 and 16 and missed her first inexperienced in regulation of the day on the par-3 seventeenth, however then she received up and down for par, and she or he birdied 18.
Friday noticed her third bogey-free spherical of the yr. Golf Channel reported that her 66 beat the stroke common by eight pictures. All on a day when the situations have been cooler and wet.
Which makes what Zhang and Sagstrom carried out additionally notable. They, too, performed in the crud. They additionally had Korda monitoring them — and historical past — down.
“This is the position everyone wants to be in,” stated Sagstrom, whose 66 included seven birdies and an eagle. “You wish to be up on the leaderboard. You wish to play in opposition to the very best gamers. You need your sport to be the very best each week. If not, be thought-about one of the very best gamers in the world.
“These are the reasons I play. This is what everyone is trying to do. It’s a good position to be in.”
Only Korda stated the identical factor afterward. She stated she likes enjoying outdoors of the lead.
History remains to be attainable.
Unsurprisingly to Homa.
“Definitely more pressure on you when everyone is trying to get you,” Korda instructed Golf Channel’s Karen Stupples, “and there’s something enjoyable about making an attempt to catch the leaders.
“They’re both very different. I’m just going to stay in my bubble. This golf course is already hard enough, so not going to put that much pressure on myself trying to catch them. Wherever I can take advantage I will and see how it goes.”
Source link
