Nelly Korda’s quest for six consecutive victories has ended just one win short of history.
The 25-year-old LPGA star finished 7-under par and tied for seventh place at the Cognizant Founders Cup in Montclair, New Jersey on Sunday. She was unable to pull off a massive comeback to secure what would have been her sixth consecutive win, something no LPGA player has ever done. Fellow American Rose Zhang took the trophy with her 24-under finish, rallying to beat Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom by two strokes.
Korda’s chase for the LPGA record win streak was in jeopardy early on. She made it through Round 1 at Upper Montclair Country Club at 3-under, but that number was small compared to to the eventual first and second place finishers. Sagstrom finished Round 1 at 7-under and Zhang at 9-under.
Korda was able to make up some ground in Round 2, but she fell way behind in Round 3, finishing 1-over for the day with three birdies and four bogeys. She struggled particularly in the front nine, which is when she gave up all of her bogeys. Meanwhile, Sagstrom and Zhang continued to dominate the course. Sagstrom ended the third round with the lead at 19-under with Zhang right behind at 18-under. Korda finished Round 3 in third place at 8-under.
As far as what went wrong during her rough round Saturday, Korda chalked it up to the nature of the sport. Some days the ball finds the hole, and some days it doesn’t.
“Yeah, it’s just kind of poor in all aspects,” Korda said Saturday via Golf Channel. “Yesterday was good in everything and today was poor in everything, so that’s just pretty much golf for you. Yeah, just made too many kind of stupid, silly mistakes, which was unfortunate because [the leaders] were playing so well. So, now there is just a massive gap.”
The gap only got larger on Sunday. Korda’s two bogeys knocked her further down the leaderboard, while Zhang and Sagstrom continued to pull away from the field — no one else finished within 10 strokes of the winner. The third place finisher, Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels, finished 13 strokes behind Zhang.
Korda may have missed out on the solo LPGA record, but her five-tournament winning streak was still tied for the longest of all time, matching Annika Sörenstam (2004-05) and Nancy Lopez (1978). It’s only May, but Korda has shown the world that she’s a force to be reckoned with. It’s going to be a fun summer.
