It was an inevitable major triumph for Nelly Korda, but that didn’t make it any less impressive.
Korda, who came into the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship with all the momentum after winning on the LPGA Tour last week, captured her first major championship Sunday at the historic Atlanta Athletic Club.
“I had a great week last week and I just carried the momentum into this week,” said Korda.
The 22-year-old topped Lizette Salas by three shots at the Women’s PGA Championship. In the process she became the first golfer on the LPGA Tour since Yani Tseng to win both the Women’s PGA and the tournament contested the week prior.
Korda, who has now won three times on the LPGA Tour this season (and counting!), will ascend to No.1 in the world when the new Rolex Rankings are announced on Monday.
Korda shot back-to-back rounds of 68 on the weekend after shooting a Championship record-tying 63 on Friday. It’s the fifth time in six years that the KPMG Women’s PGA Champion is a first-time major winner.
“Honestly, this is something that I’ve worked for since I was 14, since I played in my first one,” said Korda about her major victory on Sunday. “I wanted to be a major champion, and to finally get it done here in Atlanta with such an amazing crowd, honestly, it’s really special.”
Salas and Korda were tied through 54-holes and five shots clear of the chasing pack heading into Sunday. But Korda opened things up early after making a birdie on the par-4 3rd and an eagle on the par-5 5th.
She added another eagle on the par-5 12th as well.
There was some late drama when Korda dunked her tee shot in the water on the par-3 15th and made a double bogey.
However, Salas – who was playing some of the best golf of the season heading into this week and opened up about some mental health struggles she navigated through 2020, which helped her feel freer on the course – bogeyed the par-4 12th and didn’t make a birdie on any of her final 12 holes. She couldn’t make up any ground on Korda, who had a laser-like focus on winning the championship all day.
“She played great,” said Salas of Korda. “And there’s nothing I could have done differently to change her game plan, and that says a lot about her.”
Korda will become the first American to reach No.1 in the world since Stacy Lewis in 2014. She, along with her sister Jessica, Lexi Thompson, and Danielle Kang will also be named as the American team for the Olympics on Monday.
The Canadian pair of Alena Sharp and Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson has been long known as the duo who will head to Tokyo but after Sunday, it was official.
Sharp, who was in the second-to-last group on Saturday and tied for third, struggled on the weekend shooting 3-over and 2-over rounds, respectively.
Still, her tie for 25th was her best result of the season.
Brooke, meanwhile, finished tied for 21st. It was Brooke’s 8th top-25 result of the season in just 13 tournaments.
Brooke shot a 2-over-par 74 in the opening round (this, after Brittany Henderson returned to her caddy role on Wednesday, the day prior to the tournament teeing off. Brittany was navigating some paperwork issues and did not caddy for Brooke on the LPGA Tour last week) but righted the ship for the other three rounds shooting 70-69-72.
She finished at 3-under for the week.
The LPGA Tour heads to Texas next week for the Volunteers of America Classic. There are two majors left on the LPGA Tour schedule this season, the Evian Championship (July 22-25) and the AIG Women’s Open (August 19-22).