Korda wins major battle with Henderson
It has been said that the most difficult thing to do in golf is follow one really low round with another, the fickle game and its gods often conspiring to prevent such occurrences.
That was the case for Brooke Henderson on Sunday at the Chevron Championship. After firing an 8under-par 64 in the third round — a score that moved her 20 spots up the leaderboard to within one shot of the lead — the Canadian could muster only an even-par 72 to conclude her weekend, resulting in a tie for third behind winner Nelly Korda and runner-up Maja Stark.
Not that the Nicklaus course at The Club at Carleton Woods was ripe for the picking. Cool, windy conditions early, some treacherous pin locations and major championship pressure made for a day when pars were good scores, with the low final round a 4-under 68 by Lauren Coughlin. Korda, who separated herself from her peers even further with a record-tying fifth straight LPGA Tour win, had the next-best round of the day with a 69.
“I can finally breathe now,” Korda told Golf Channel’s Tom Abbott after making birdie on the final hole to finish at 13 under par and win by two. “That back nine felt like the longest back nine of my entire life. It was a little bit of a grind on the back nine, but happy to get the win.”
After completing her third round early Sunday morning with a par on the 18th hole (storms halted play Saturday afternoon), Henderson bogeyed the second hole, birdied the third and then made a doublebogey on the par-5 fourth after some short-game scuffles. Coupled with Korda’s birdie there, Henderson fell four shots behind the world No. 1. But the Smiths Falls, Ont. native bounced back with consecutive birdies on the fifth and sixth holes to stay in the mix.
“It was kind of just weird. I should have been almost making eagle, and instead I walked away with double,” Henderson said of the fourth hole. “It was definitely unfortunate, but I’m proud of the way I made two birdies back-to-back, got things
under control a little bit.”
From there, however, Henderson countered two more birdies with two more bogeys. Whereas she totalled only 23 putts during her third round and made some long bombs, Henderson’s flat stick came back down to earth on the final day and three times she failed to get up and down from greenside bunkers.
“Definitely not my best stuff, which is a little disappointing, but Nelly played amazing and what she’s doing is pretty incredible,” added Henderson, who moved to third in the LPGA Tour’s points race. “Congratulations to her, and I feel like I learned a lot this week. Yesterday was a lot of fun; today maybe not so much fun. Definitely learning a lot and I feel like my game is right there, so just got to keep going.”
For Korda, it was a case of “anything you can do, I can do better” in an ongoing battle for golf supremacy with Scottie Scheffler, her topranked counterpart on the men’s side. Scheffler’s likely victory at the RBC Heritage (a weather delay has pushed play there into Monday, with Scheffler holding a five-shot lead through 15 holes) will give the Texan four wins in his last five starts, including a major at the Masters. Korda’s five consecutive victories have come in just five starts this season, sandwiched around a seven-week break, and now the American has her second career major title.
“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,” said Korda, a 13-time LPGA Tour winner who has battled various injuries including blood clots that required surgery in 2022. “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.”
Notes
Mississauga’s Matthew Anderson birdied his final two holes Sunday to capture the PGA Tour Americas Brazil Open, played on the Rio Olympic Course.
Anderson led by one shot entering the final round, trailed by one midway through his back nine, then closed in style to hoist the trophy. It was the 24-year-old’s first professional victory. Through three events, he leads the season-long points race
Amateur Monet Chun of Richmond ■ Hill was the co-medallist at the Big Ten Championship, her second conference title trophy in three years. Two weeks ago, the University of Michigan golfer set a school and tournament record when she carded a 10-under 61 in the second round of the Chattanooga Classic, which she also won.