When Nelly Korda competes at the Cognizant Founders Cup this week in Clifton, New Jersey, at Upper Montclair Country Club, she aims to achieve a historic milestone on the LPGA Tour – winning a sixth consecutive start. Only two other players have accomplished a five consecutive wins on the LPGA: Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sörenstam from 2004 to 2005.
In their sixth starts, Sorenstam finished tied for 12th at the Michelob Open at Kingsmill in 2005, while Lopez shared 13th at the Lady Keystone Open. Following her recent win at the Chevron Championship, Korda marked herself as the first American to win five tournaments in a single year since Juli Inkster in 1999.
Korda currently leads the tour by a significant margin in world rankings. Her average of 12.30 points in the Rolex Rankings is more than double that of the second-ranked Lilia Vu’s average of 6.54. Additionally, in the Race to CME Globe Season standings, Korda’s total of 2,702 points surpasses second-place Lydia Ko’s 1,142 points.
Korda, who skipped the entire spring Asian swing on a seven-week break, showcases her dominance on the tour in various ways. For instance, she boasts an impressive record of 507-1-20 in stroke-play events in her six LPGA starts this season, along with a 3-0 record in the match-play portion of the T-Mobile event in Las Vegas.
Furthermore, Korda has gained an exceptional 3.60 strokes per round on the competition since starting her winning streak. She leads in strokes gained around the greens and greens in regulation, hitting 76 percent of greens so far this season. Despite ranking low in certain putting metrics, Korda’s ball-striking abilities compensate for any shortcomings on the greens.
With a scoring average of 68.74 during her streak, Korda excels in par-5 scoring, par-4 scoring, and overall scoring consistency with 16 out of 26 rounds in the 60s this season. At only 25 years old, Korda has become the youngest American player to secure two major titles since Juli Inkster in 1984, indicating there is much to anticipate from her future endeavors on the LPGA Tour.
