Nelly Korda: golf’s dominant superstar charting a course to greatness Premium

Nelly Korda's historic LPGA winning streak, Met Gala appearance, and resilience make her a golf superstar to watch.

When Nelly Korda arrived at the Upper Montclair Country Club last week, she knew she was on the verge of something truly momentous: she had a shot at becoming the first woman to win six consecutive LPGA starts, at the 72-hole Cognizant Founders Cup.

Korda came into the tournament having taken a fortnight off after winning the Chevron Championship. It was her second career Major triumph and her fifth straight title, tying her with Hall of Famers Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) for the tour’s longest winning streak. Byron Nelson holds golf’s all-time mark with 11 straight wins in 1945.

Korda started her historic victory run at January’s Drive On Championship in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida, then took a break before winning three times in as many weeks — at March’s Seri Pak and Ford championships and in April’s Match Play tournament. 

When she doubled her collection of Majors with the Chevron win, adding to the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship, the buzz around ‘the streak’ grew loud enough for pop culture to take notice. Korda became the first golfer since Tiger Woods to be invited to the Met Gala, the annual event that draws stars from the worlds of fashion, show business and sports.

So when the 25-year-old teed off at the Founders, the centre of all attention, she could have been forgiven for feeling just the tad distracted. After months of near-perfect play, she inexplicably hit bad drives, found bunkers from the fairway and missed short putts.

Rose Zhang, the two-time NCAA champion who won in her professional debut last year, put an official end to Korda’s record-tying LPGA Tour winning streak, but the defeat did not diminish the World No. 1’s achievement in the slightest; if anything, it shone a light on how exceptional it was.

As Zhang pointed out, “I just want to reiterate, it’s so hard winning out here on tour. What Nelly is doing is something quite unheard of, and only two other players have done it before. It’s so difficult and it’s so rare. There is only one Nelly Korda.”