JERSEY CITY, NJ — If you can’t believe what’s happening at the Mizuho Americas Open right now, then you haven’t watched Nelly Korda compete in 2024. The 25-year-old currently holds a two-shot lead at Liberty National Golf Club, recording a total three days of 13-under in wet, tough conditions to put herself in position to win a sixth title in her last seven LPGA Tour starts.
After posting a 2-under 70 in the first round, Korda bettered herself by two shots in the second round, carding a near-perfect 4-under 68 on Friday in Jersey City, NJ, a round that saw her bogey and five birdies at Liberty National.
While conditions on day three were mild at the start, the drizzle took over and turned into a steady shower as the day progressed, with the cold and damp becoming persistent nuisances for the final teams. But Korda, who captured the second and third titles of her five-tournament winning streak in less than ideal weather, was undeterred by the increasingly dreary day in the Garden State.
“I think you just have to see that everybody’s playing it, too,” Korda said. “You just have to make it difficult. You’re out here having fun. You do what you love for a living. Whatever the circumstances, you have to put it aside and do it every time.”
And that’s exactly what Korda did in the third round. She grabbed a near-instant birdie on the par-3 2nd hole to start her day, making another birdie on the par-3 4th hole to move to 8-under overall. The 13-time LPGA Tour winner birdied the seventh hole before chipping in to turn in 33, then bogeyed the par-5 10th hole again to reach double-under par.
Korda bogeyed the 13th hole to move to 11-under overall and recorded a one-two punch of birdies on 15 and 16 before finally carding a 7-under 65 to tie her lowest round of the season, which Korda last shot during during the rainy final round of the Ford Championship presented by KCC in Gilbert, Ariz
“The first nine, the wind dropped. It was sunny. It was hot,” Korda said. “When we got near the water on the back nine, the wind started to pick up and it started to rain. It was the weather we played on the first day, so he made sure we stayed warm and did it every time.”
When her streak was snapped by Rose Zhang last week at the Cognizant Founders Cup, some wondered how Korda would bounce back from her aggravating finish at Upper Montclair Country Club. But the two-time major champion wasn’t one bit worried, knowing that the way she’s playing right now, no course or tournament is safe from the Korda buzzsaw, a confidence that showed on Saturday at the Mizuho Americas Open. .
“I have a great teammate in Jason (McDede, her partner) who reassures me that I need to get back into it, or that if I get too early it will lead me down a path that I really don’t need to. to come down,” Korda said. “That’s our mentality, it’s been our mentality for the last two years. Obviously, there are weeks when you can do this much easier than others. When you’re in the flow, everything seems to click in a sense.”
Although she’s made a ton of history already this season, joining Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-2005) as just the third known player to win five consecutive LPGA Tour tournaments, Korda will win even more if they would win again Sunday at Liberty National.
A win would make Korda the first player since Inby Park in 2013 to win six or more tournaments in a season and the eighth player since 1980 to do so, joining Betsy King, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, The Lorena Ochoa, Beth Daniel and Yani Tseng, in addition to Park.
Korda would become the first American since Daniel in 1990 to win six or more times in a season, just one behind the 33-time LPGA Tour winner who had seven victories that year.
She would also tie Sorenstam as the fastest player to win six events in a single season, matching the Swede’s sixth win in 2005 in her eighth start that year.
But that’s all just noise, unproductive chatter that Korda will try to shut out on her now-famous bubble in the final round of the Mizuho Americas Open.
Would it be spectacular if Korda lifted another trophy? Absolutely. But as she said last week after her third-round 73 at the Cognizant Founders Cup, Korda is human and has had enough success to hang up her hat already this season.
If he gets the win tomorrow, great. But if it doesn’t happen, Korda will just turn the page on another opportunity, knowing what a privilege it is to be in this position in the first place.
“I’m just out here taking the weather as it is and playing golf,” said the No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking. “Everyone goes through it. Everyone is dealing with the situation at hand. You just have to put it aside and just go out there and have fun. Where I can take my chance, I will. This golf course is pretty tough, especially if the conditions get tougher, so I’ll take my chances where I can and see how it goes.”
And if recent results are any indication, “seeing how it goes” could mean Korda is once again bound for the winner’s circle at Liberty National Golf Club, which would come as no surprise to anyone who follows the LPGA Tour.