Nelly Korda wins the 2024 Chevron Championship by two strokes ahead of Maja Stark. She thus secures her fifth consecutive title on the LPGA Tour. After Korda had to finish her third round in the morning, she started the final from a tie for second place and secured victory with a round of 69.
LPGA Tour: Five wins in a row for Nelly Korda
Korda started her round with two birdies to take the lead of the tournament. After another birdie on hole 8, she had a three-shot lead at the end of the front nine. She continued as before on the second nine, gaining a strike on the 10th. Her first bogey followed on the 11th hole, but the competition also faltered and Korda still had a four-stroke lead after that. After another bogey on the 15th, the gap narrowed again and Maja Stark started her final spurt, but Korda left no doubt about her victory with a birdie on the 18th.
Nelly Korda on her “crazy” series of success
MODERATOR: Here with Nelly Korda, the winner Of the Chevron Championship.
Can you put it into words, epic jump, epic moment. Can you describe everything that you’re feeling right now?
NELLY KORDA: Well, one, I’m shivering right now, so I’m a little cold. It’s just been a crazy, crazy, crazy couple of weeks, with some really solid golf. I can finally breathe.
I was really nervous on that back nine. I really, really wanted this win. It feels amazing to get it.
Q. You had a lot of emotion there at the green talking about your team and the people around you. For you personally, what does this one mean? What does it mean to capture your second victory, make history, and get to take a jump?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, in ’21 I had an amazing year, got my first major at KPMG. Just a lot of doubt crept into my mind in 2022 and especially 2023. I heard some outside voices from other people saying that they don’t know if I’ll ever be able to win another major again, and I stuck to working extremely hard on and off the golf course, and I’m so thankful to have the team that I do.
They’ve gone through all the highs and lows with me, especially Jason. I just can’t be more thankful for the hard work that each one of them put into it.
Q. What’s Jason in particular meant to you?
NELLY KORDA: I honestly don’t have any words, just because there are too many. He has been by my side for every single one of my wins out here, and in a sense he’s my punching bag out there, he’s my best friend, and he’s my teammate.
I wouldn’t be able to do it without him because his encouragement on and off the golf course has been amazing, and I’m just so, so, so thankful for him. I hope he knows it.
Q. You hit some fantastic shots down the stretch on those last couple of holes; with all that was on the line, how were you able to lock in on those moments and pull off those shots?
NELLY KORDA: Obviously my mind kept wanting to go to 18. It was such a long day. I felt like we were out there — well, I’ve been up since 4:00 a.m., so it has been a long day.
But I have to give props to Jason because he’s the one that kept me in it. He’s the one that kept telling me a shot at a time, a shot at a time, don’t get ahead of yourself, stick to what’s in front of you and work on that.
Q. How did you push those doubts out that you were referring to earlier?
NELLY KORDA: By having a great team around me full of positivity and working hard. Hard work will always get you somewhere.
I kept my head down, and I worked really, really hard.
Q. You kind of touched on it earlier, but when you were going through that really tough time with your surgery and your arm, could you have imagined being in this position, winning five in a row, tying an LPGA record, everything that you’ve been able to do?
NELLY KORDA: Back then, no, because obviously then I was just more scared for my health. Competing was kind of on the backseat. I was not thinking about competing at all.
But I think all of the sad times and the health scares that I have gone through have made me who I am today. I think it has matured me a lot, and I would say it’s shaped me into the person I am today, and I’m very grateful for the ups and downs.
Q. I saw that you jumped in with your Richard Mille. Is it waterproof?
NELLY KORDA: Yes, it is. Not the strap, but it’ll be fine.
Q. You pointed to your team, and the system you have in place is a big reason for your success. How did that system support you today?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I mean, I had an early day today. I had six holes that I had to finish of my third round, so I had my coach, Jamie Mulligan, with me the entire way.
I had Kim making sure that my body was all good.
Then obviously my teammate out there, Jason.
We’re always together. Even if it’s between the rounds, we’re always hanging out together, we’re joking around, we’re keeping it light. We all know each other so, so, so well, and we tell each other almost everything, and I’m so grateful for the friendships that we also have.
Q. We’ve talked about you keeping this historic streak to the side. You’ve now accomplished it. What does this mean to you now that you’ve won five in a row?
NELLY KORDA: It’s an amazing feeling because all the hard work and the doubt that I had in my head from 2021, I worked through it, and it’s been an amazing feeling these past couple weeks knowing that I can go on this stretch and that if I stay in my bubble and I keep golf in a sense simple and let it flow, then I can have so, so much fun out here.
It’s just been an amazing time. To get five in a row, and my lucky number is 13, and for me to get it here in Houston and it to be a major feels even better.
Q. After the first two front-nine birdies, no one ever came closer than two shots to you. Did you feel like as long as you kept your head down and made pars and — you were in control? Was there ever a time you thought it could slip away, or did you always feel like just keep moving forward and you had control?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, the headspace that we were in was take it a shot at a time. I bogeyed No. 11 after chipping in on 10, and then I hit it into the water on 15. Those mistakes kind of — you start to put a little bit more pressure on yourself that you don’t know what the other girls are doing ahead of you. You only know what the two girls that are playing in the same group are doing.
Having Jason tell me that I really need to take it a shot at a time really, really helped.
Q. Also, do you plan to play next week in LA?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah.
Q. So is that exciting, that you could go for six, something no one else has done?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I’m going to enjoy this right now and then I’ll think about that. But yeah, it’s been an amazing time. Hopefully keep the streak alive. But I’ve been so grateful to compete week in and week out and get the five in a row, too.
Q. Were you aware that you had gone 39 holes without a bogey?
NELLY KORDA: No, I was not. I was thinking — I was like, I wonder when the last time I made a bogey was on No. 11, but I was not aware that it was that long.
Q. Throughout that streak it didn’t really look like you even came close to one. You didn’t have to make many long putts. How do you maintain that kind of calm, cool, collected headspace? You’ve credited your team, but it’s just you and Jason out there. How do you maintain that when things could have gotten away on 11 and 15?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I’m just hitting it really solid, honestly. I was hitting the fairways, and then if I wasn’t hitting the fairway, we made sure that I was going to go center of the green.
We played really smart out there, as well. You take your opportunities when you can, especially on reachable par-5s or par-4s that you have a shorter club in, but other than that, you just try to play safe, middle of the green.
Q. In major championship golf, how important are pars in that situation when it’s easy to say I can make a par even on some of the par-5s?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I think it’s harder being in a position when you’re the one ahead. Sometimes people get a really good round going. But for me, I was going to take my chances on the par-5s where there may be a little reachable. But the golf course was playing so, so different today with the wind out of the north that we just tried to stick to the game plan.
I missed a couple of birdies down the stretch, as well, but other than that, we were aggressive when we could be aggressive, and we were smart when we needed to be smart. That’s major championships.
Q. Did you ever find yourself daydreaming at all out there? Did you ever think before you hit the green on 18 that I’m getting closer to my fifth straight win? Do you ever find that, and if so, what do you do in that situation?
NELLY KORDA: No, I stop myself every single time. Every single time it tried to creep into my head, I stopped myself immediately.
Q. Can you speak to the state of American golf just as a whole?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I think it’s trending in the right direction, not just American golf but women’s golf in general. I think you see the past couple of major winners are — Alison won at the U.S. Open and Lilia won here last year. I think we’re just performing really well, and I think that’s everyone on Tour, honestly. It’s so hard to win out here, and I say that with all honesty that it is really, really hard to win out here. The competition is getting harder and harder every year.
I think women’s golf is just trending in a great direction, and hopefully we can showcase it to everyone, as well.
Q. Is this a moment you dreamed of? We talk about little girls, big dreams out here. Is this a moment you dreamed of as a little girl?
NELLY KORDA: For sure, yeah. My first ever major, competing in a major, was at the U.S. Women’s Open at Sebonack, and that was when I dreamt of winning major championships.
To have two under my belt now is a dream come true.
Q. You talked about your injury, being in your own way mentally. What would you tell little girls to build their mental fortitude?
NELLY KORDA: Honestly, to never give up, to stay patient, to stay your course and not to compare yourself to others because everyone has a different path in their life. And to never let the adversities of life or anything take you down. Always rise.
Q. Now that you have five in a row and a second major, what can this run you’re on do to elevate the profile of your sport and get more eyeballs on it week to week, and the great play of you and your fellow players, too?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, my answer is going to be the same. It’s a stage. We need a stage. We need to be on primetime TV, and we need to showcase the talent we have out here, which is a lot. Hopefully we have — a bunch of people came out this week. The crowds were amazing. That’s just what we need.
We also need the support from not just the crowds but the television networks.
Q. We have been following you and your victories for the last three months. We’ve just been cheering you on. Your first victory out of these five straight came from the Bradenton Country Club. Can you tell me what it was like to sort of start this five-win journey in a place that you called home for a short amount of time?
NELLY KORDA: Yeah, there’s no better place than home. The support that I received that week and just a whirlwind of the last day that week was absolutely crazy, and to play in front of a home crowd was a dream come true.
I’m so, so thankful that everyone came out to support not just me but the entire Tour.