Scheffler, Korda make history with glorious winning streaks
Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda, the two leading players in the men's and women's games, respectively, have produced the most dominant run that professional golf has seen in years and neither appears ready to slow down.
With his three-shot win at Hilton Head Island on Monday, Masters champion Scheffler has won four of his last five starts and become the first player to win a major and win on the PGA Tour the following week since Tiger Woods in 2006.
Scheffler's triumph came a day after Korda won the year's first major to become the third player since 1978 to win five consecutive events on the LPGA Tour, joining Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004– 2005). "One of the people here asked me, like, is this turning into a competition between you and Nelly, and I was like, I don't know, man, I think if it's a competition she's got me pretty beat right now," Scheffler said on Monday.
"Five wins in a row. She had that T16 at the beginning of the year, which was just terrible; I can't believe she did that," a smiling Scheffler added.
In their last 10 starts, the dynamic American duo have combined for nine wins - including a major triumph each - the only blemish coming from Scheffler as his five-foot birdie putt to force a playoff missed in his final start before the Masters.
Sustaining excellence for so long in golf is no easy feat and perhaps why the sport has not seen such dominance from both a man and a woman at the same time since World Golf Hall of Famer members Woods and Sorenstam were on top of their game.
Korda had to complete the last seven holes of her weatherdelayed third round early Sunday and trailed by one going into the final round where she carded a three-under-par 69 to finish two shots clear of Sweden's Maja Stark.