Nelly comes out top in the battle of the Korda sisters
World No. 3 Nelly Korda fired an excellent five-under-par final round of 67 to win the Individual title at the Aramco Team Series – Sotogrande by three shots.
The Major champion began the day seven shots behind overnight leader, her sister Jessica, and dropped a shot on the second hole.
But the Olympic champion soon found her feet rolling in three birdies on holes seven through nine and again on holes 12 through 14, before adding another on 16.
Despite making a bogey at the last, Korda sealed victory – her second on the LET – with a total score of 13-underpar at La Reserva Club de Sotogrande.
“I’m super excited to win,” said the Major champion.
“I haven’t won this year, so it feels nice to get a win under my belt but I’m also very sad as it wasn’t the day Jess was expecting. I guess we were hoping for a bit more of a battle going down the stretch, but it’s golf and that sometimes happens.
“The first two days were a bit loose; today was a little bit more intense playing with two other competitors in the final group and being pretty close to the lead.
“We were kind of going back and forth with the lead, but it’s so fun playing those first two days with the team. It gives you a little bit different aspect of golf. I enjoyed it.”
Three players finished in a share of second place with Jessica Korda, France’s Pauline Roussin and Spain’s Ana Peláez Trivino all on 10-under-par.
It was another consistent day for the Spaniard, who ended the week with a
SOTOGRANDE
bogey-free round of 69 (-3) and finished as the top Spanish player.
Roussin produced a third round of 71 with seven birdies, three bogeys and a triple bogey on her scorecard, while it wasn’t the day the older Korda sister would have wanted as she shot a round of five-over.
France’s Emma Grechi and Slovenia’s Pia Babnik finished in a tie for fifth at the end of day three on nine-under-par with USA’s Alison Lee, Dutch star Anne Van Dam, Belgium’s Manon De Roey and Sweden’s Linn Grant one shot further back.
It was an excellent finish to the Individual competition for Finland’s Matilda Castren, who fired a scintillating final round of nine-under 63 – her career-best – to climb up the leaderboard to 11th place.
Scotland’s Michele Thomson finished on level-par in a share of 36, while Catriona Matthew was two-shots further back and Gabrielle Macdonald was at six-over.
In the 2022 Race to Costa del Sol, Sweden’s Maja Stark still leads the rankings with 3,037.64 points ahead of her compatriots Grant (2,533.91) and Johanna Gustavsson (1,802.63).
De Roey is still in fourth place with Argentina’s Maggie Simmermacher in fifth and England’s Georgia Hall in sixth.
South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace remains in seventh spot with England’s Meghan MacLaren just behind, while Spain’s Peláez moves up to ninth place and now has 1,096.46 points with Finland’s Tiia Koivisto rounding out the top 10.