LANCASTER, Pa. — Six. That’s the number that’s become synonymous with Nelly Korda in recent weeks. A number that no player wants to see on a scorecard unless the circumstances are absolutely dire. But when it comes to win counts? Six is a pleasant number.
The 25-year-old Korda has been almost totally unstoppable this season, capturing six LPGA Tour titles in eight total starts in 2024, becoming the first person since Inbee Park in 2013 to win six times in a year and becoming the first person since Lorena Ochoa in 2008 to win six times before June 1.
She has won in every single type of condition, from cold and rain to wind and sunshine, triumphing in playoffs and challenging head-to-head battles coming down the stretch, a fact that proves that Korda’s unflappability in the big moment just might be her greatest asset on the golf course.
The now 14-time LPGA Tour winner’s dominance has been noticed and is admired by her LPGA Tour counterparts, even those who have fallen victim to the Korda buzzsaw over the past few months, and many of them fully expect Nelly to contend again this week at the U.S. Women’s Open.
But the two-time major champion has climbed back into her bubble in Pennsylvania, blocking out the buzz circulating around the grounds at Lancaster Country Club, ignoring the chirps saying she just might win for a seventh time. And while there’s plenty of commentary about how Korda should be handling one of the game’s brightest spotlights and what her 2024 ceiling could wind up being, she knows that if she does what she needs to do on and off the golf course, there will be many more trophies to hoist both the rest of this season and her career.
“With the position I'm in, there are going to be expectations,” said Korda in her pre-tournament press conference in Pennsylvania. “I do not want to lose who I am. I'm going to always stay true to who I am because, at the end of the day, when I go to sleep, I need to be proud of who I am. I try to be very, very pure and very, very honest with everyone around me, and I hope that they see that I am proud of the person that I am at the end of the day. That is how I hope that I grow the game.
“Obviously, I go into every week wanting to win, but there is a sense that sometimes that's not realistic. For me, I need to give 100 percent of myself every single day to, not just my golf, my family, my workouts, life outside of golf. For me, that's the number one thing.”
It’s a strategy that’s worked so far, one that has kept Korda grounded in the warmest of limelights. And she’s now set her sights on accomplishing a lifelong dream this week at the U.S. Women’s Open, a goal that maybe has never felt more within reach for the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1.
“(The U.S. Women’s Open) was the first event I ever played in 2013 at Sebonack. That was where I realized this is my dream, and I would love to live that out one day,” said Korda after her victory at the Mizuho Americas Open. “It’s tough. There have definitely been some heartbreaking times where I haven't competed well in the U.S. Women's Open, where I feel like I put a little bit more pressure on myself because I do love the event, and I feel like out of all the events, that's the event for me.
“I'm not downplaying any other major. I'm just saying that is where my dream became reality in a sense, so obviously, it's on the top of my priority list. I just know there is never any good when you put more pressure on yourself. Just going to stay in my bubble and take it a shot at a time.”
On paper, Korda leads or is ranked inside the top five in numerous statistical categories on the LPGA Tour. But major championship golf is a force to be reckoned with, and while she’s looking forward to the test that Lancaster Country Club is going to provide, Korda is very much aware that she’ll need to be firing on all cylinders once again this week if she wants a chance to lift the Harton S. Semple trophy on Sunday.
“This golf course is a beast. Off the tee, if you don't hit it into the fairways, it sinks down into the rough. These greens are small and very, very undulated,” Korda said. “It's going to test every aspect of your golf game and even your mental game because it's a major championship. You can get ahead of yourself, get lost in the moment. If you make a couple of mistakes here and there, sometimes it can get away from you, but it's going to test every aspect of your game out there this week.”
Fortunately for Korda, her all-around game is better than most anyone on the LPGA Tour this season, as the Florida native leads the Tour in strokes gained total (+2.90) in 2024. Her confidence has to be brimming after this recent tear of excellent golf, and having won self-admittedly without her best stuff on a couple of different occasions certainly doesn’t hurt in the self-belief department.
But even though she’s the hottest player in golf right now, Korda knows that bygones are bygones at this point and that Lancaster Country Club doesn’t care if she has won six times or if she’s Rolex Rankings No. 1. It’s all about the quality of golf that gets played at the end of the day, and that’s what Korda is focused on. Not history or record books or win counts.
It’s what’s right in front of her that’s most important.
Want the low-down on everything @NellyKorda this season? 🤔 We’ve got you covered ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/qe1txWEDss
— LPGA (@LPGA) May 25, 2024
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