Scheffler stays hot; Korda matches mark
HILTON HEAD, S.C. — Masters champion Scottie Scheffler finished off another tournament with a victory in the RBC Heritage to extend his dominant run.
Scheffler, a University of Texas product, has won four of his last five tournaments and has 40 consecutive rounds at par or better, a streak that began at East Lake in the Tour Championship last August. His position at No. 1 in the world is so great that he became the first player since Tiger Woods to crack the 15-point average mark.
“It’s very impressive,” Patrick Cantlay said. “He’s played great for a while now — a number of years — and it seems like he is playing the best golf of his life right now.”
Scheffler rarely missed a shot. He gave little hope to those chasing him.
“I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations. I came here with a purpose,” Scheffler said after polishing off a 3-under 68 for a three-shot victory.
Sahith Theegala birdied the 16th hole, saved par from a bunker on the par-3 17th and closed with a par for a 68 to finish alone in second.
Cantlay (68) and U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark tied for third.
Scheffler finished at 19under 265 and earned $3.2 million. That brings his season total to nearly $18.7 million in just 10 tournaments.
Korda ties record in Chevron win
Nelly Korda couldn’t have imagined the incredible run she’s put together this season while at home recovering from a blood clot that required surgery in 2022.
“Because obviously then I was just more scared for my health,” she said. “Competing was kind of on the back seat. 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.”
Fully healthy now, Korda is seemingly unstoppable. The world’s No. 1 player hasn’t lost a tournament since January, and now she’s a two-time major champion.
Korda etched her name in the LPGA Tour record books Sunday, winning her record-tying fifth straight tournament with a two-stroke victory in the Chevron Championship at The Woodlands, Texas.
Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA events. Her previous major victory was in 2021 at the Women’s PGA Championship.
“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,” she said.
Korda shot a 3-under 69 in the final to outlast Maja Stark of Sweden, who birdied her final two holes to shoot 69 and pull within one. Korda stayed aggressive on the par-5 18th, easily clearing the lake in front of the green and setting up an easy up-and-down birdie for a two-shot victory.
She had a four-day total of 13-under 275 at Carlton Woods.
Korda nearly aced the par-3 17th, with her tee shot hitting the hole and hopping in the air before settling within 10 feet. She settled for par to maintain her two-shot lead.
Korda wowed the large crowd, which followed her throughout the day, by chipping into the wind for birdie on the par-4 10th hole to take a four-stroke lead. The 25-year-old raised her club above her head with one hand and pumped her fist after the ball rolled into the hole.
Korda took home $1.2 million from a purse of $7.9 million, a significant increase from last year’s purse of $5.2 million. That brings her season earnings to $2,424,216 and her career earnings to $11,361,489.
Winners had been jumping into Poppie’s Pond off the 18th green at Mission Hills since 1988, and Korda became the second to do it in Texas by doing a cannonball off a small dock into browntinged water. World No. 2 Lilia Vu was first to jump into the pond here after her win last season. Vu withdrew from this year’s tournament before the first round after experiencing “severe discomfort” in her back during warmups.
Korda officially withdrew Monday from the JM Eagle LA Championship, which begins Thursday in Los Angeles.
“It was not an easy decision,” Korda said in a statement posted on the LPGA Tour website. “After the unbelievable week at The Chevron and grinding through the mental and physical challenges of four events in the past five weeks, I am definitely feeling exhausted. With so much still to come throughout 2024, I feel I need to listen to my body and get some rest.”