LANCASTER, Pa. — Nelly Korda was recently scrolling through the U.S. Women’s Open Instagram page when she came across a post of her swing from 2016. The No. 1-ranked golfer in the world was shocked by the flaws in her swing and almost immediately winced.
Korda was over-rotating her hands on the takeaway, making it harder than necessary to square the club face at impact, and she fine-tuned her motion after working with swing coach Jamie Mulligan, who also coaches world No. 8 golfer Patrick Cantlay.
That correction, at least in part, has put Korda on a winning pace unmatched in golf history heading into this week’s U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club, where she is seeking her first victory in women’s golf’s most prestigious tournament. Korda has won six of seven matches this season, including the Chevron Championship in April, the year’s first major.
She’s the first player to embark on such a winning streak since the LPGA Tour began keeping official statistics in 1980. Her most recent victory came this month at the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City, in the shadow of Manhattan. The only thing she didn’t win during the streak? She still finished tied for seventh. That’s why it’s so striking to hear her talk about her 2016 swing.
Nelly Korda has almost twice as many ranking points as the world’s No. 2 player.
Number of LPGA wins per year
Korda has already won six tournaments in 2024, the most of any player since 2013.
Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam won at least six tournaments five years in a row from 2001 to 2005.
The last player to win at least six tournaments in a single year was South Korea’s Park Inbee in 2013.
Since February, Korda has doubled his world ranking points.
Source: LPGA and rolexrankings.com.
Nelly Korda has almost twice as many ranking points as the world’s No. 2 player.
Number of LPGA wins per year
Korda has already won six tournaments in 2024, the most of any player since 2013.
Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam won at least six tournaments five years in a row from 2001 to 2005.
The last player to win at least six tournaments in a single year was South Korea’s Park Inbee in 2013.
Since February, Korda has doubled his world ranking points.
Source: LPGA and rolexrankings.com.
Nelly Korda has almost twice as many ranking points as the world’s No. 2 player.
Number of LPGA wins per year
Korda has already won six tournaments in 2024, the most of any player since 2013.
Annika Sorenstam from Sweden
5. Win at least six tournaments
Consecutively from 2001 to 2005.
Korean Inbi
Park is the last
At least the winner
6 Tournaments
A year in 2013.
Since February, Korda has doubled his world ranking points.
Source: LPGA and rolexrankings.com.
“I was looking [the 2016 video]”And I knew my swing was that bad,” Korda said. “This just goes to show that there’s always hope for everybody, really, because I worked really hard on my swing. For us, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are really important to make sure my swing is on the right plane, in the right spot. …
“Making sure I’m in position is really important to me, because if I rotate too much on the way back, it’s going to be hard to get back into that position on the way down. Even if it looks like it’s on the same plane, even if it’s a half-degree off, if the face is a half-degree open, it’s going to go sideways.”
Regarded by players on both the LPGA and PGA Tours as having arguably the most consistent and repeatable swing in golf, especially in the highest-leverage situations, the 25-year-old entered the tournament as the overwhelming favorite to win the second of five major championships on the women’s golf calendar.
Accompanying her in Lancaster will be Mulligan, whose presence has been invaluable to the two-time major winner during this incredible season. Until now, Korda has relied on video calls with her coaches, including longtime short-game instructor David Whelan, to work on her swing. Those sessions haven’t necessarily translated into better results on the course.
Mulligan stood just off the 18th green after Korda’s win at the Chevron Championship and has been with her regularly this year, thanking him during the trophy ceremony after she jumped into the lake at The Club at Carlton Woods, a tournament tradition.
“Last year and the year before, my coach rarely came with me, but now I’m happy that he’s here. Before, if I wasn’t hitting the ball well, I’d contact him on FaceTime and try to solve it myself, but now it’s completely different having my coach come with me,” said Korda, who was introduced to Mulligan through her sister Jessica a few years ago. “You have a face-to-face conversation, and the coach puts you in his shoes and lets you experience it for yourself. Experience and reality are very different.”
Korda’s dominance from tee to green has dazzled players of her generation, including world number 6 Rose Chan, the only player to win a tournament during Korda’s winning streak.
“I don’t know how to explain it, how to express it, but what Nelly does is something nobody can do and the history speaks for itself,” Chan said. “I’m witnessing crazy history and it’s really, really moving to see her playing here. She seems barely fazed and I’m like, ‘I’m so happy.'” [it’s] “She’s warmed up well, she works well with the guys around her and she loves the game. She’s really just coming out here and playing for herself.”
Chang finished at 24 under par to win the Founders Cup by two strokes over Sweden’s Madeleine Sagstrom and is one of the hottest groups in Thursday’s first round at Lancaster, which last hosted the U.S. Women’s Open in 2015. That year, Chang won by one stroke over South Korea’s Amy Yang and two strokes over Stacy Lewis, captain of the U.S. Solheim Cup team, and Inbee Park, also of South Korea.
Korda’s rise has brought even more attention to women’s golf during a strong period for women’s sports. The NCAA women’s basketball final between Iowa and South Carolina averaged 18.9 million viewers, a record for women’s basketball at any level. The WNBA Draft also broke ratings records when former Hokies star Kaitlyn Clark was selected first overall, and Clark’s addition was key to a surge in WNBA viewership.
Meanwhile, NBC said the final round of the Chevron Championship drew nearly 2 million viewers, making it the most-watched Chevron Championship since 2010. The total prize money for this year’s U.S. Open is $12 million, the largest in women’s golf, with the winner taking home $2.4 million.
“It’s a great time for women’s golf,” said U.S. Golf Association CEO Mike Whan, who served as commissioner of the LPGA Tour from 2010 to 2021. “I think anybody who’s known Nelly for many years knew she was going to win. I don’t know if any of us expected this kind of run, but there was no question about her ability to have multiple winning seasons. One thing I know about the LPGA is that you have 70 to 80 players who are working harder than ever before. So it’s harder to make these runs, because there’s a lot of talent. There’s more depth than there’s ever been.”
