Nelly Korda powers way to her first major championship
Nelly Korda powered her way to her first major championship Sunday with a performance worthy of her new status as the No. 1 player in women’s golf.
Korda nearly holed out with a 7-wood from 243 yards for a tap-in eagle, and the 22-year-old American seized control by using her length from that graceful swing for another eagle that sent her on her way to victory in KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
She finished with a 15foot par putt for a 4-under 68, giving her a three-shot victory over Lizette Salas at the Atlanta Athletic Club.
At 19-under 269, she tied the Women’s PGA record to par last matched by Inbee
Park at Westchester Country Club in 2015.
Korda won for the second straight week on the LPGA Tour and it was enough to become the first American at No. 1 in the women’s world ranking since Stacy Lewis in 2014. Jin Young Ko had held the No. 1 spot for nearly two years.
Korda seized control with an iron into the par-5 12th for the 8-foot eagle putt, a three-shot swing when Salas — who had to lay up on the hole — hit wedge over the green into a bunker and made bogey.
Korda made an 18-foot birdie putt on No. 14 to stretch her lead to five shots with four holes to play. Salas closed with a 71 in her bid to win a first major, and her first LPGA Tour title in seven year.
PGA >> Harris English birdied the eighth hole of sudden death to win the Travelers Championship, beating Kramer Hickok after both birdied the final hole of regulation to force the playoff in Cromwell, Conn.
It matched the secondlongest sudden-death playoff in PGA Tour history.
English shot a 5-under 65 to finish at 13 under, then made a 5-foot putt on the seventh trip down the 18th hole of the day. Hickok missed a 36-foot birdie putt on the final hole.
The tour record for a sudden death playoff is 11 holes in the 1949 Motor City Open, when Lloyd Mangrum and Cary Middlecoff were declared cowinners by mutual agreement due to darkness; four other events have reached an eighth playoff hole.
It was the second win this year and the fourth career victory for English, who finished third at the U.S. Open last week.
PGA CHAMPIONS >> Steve Stricker won the Bridgestone Seniors Players Championship at difficult Firestone in Akron, Ohio, for his second victory of the year and third major title.
Eight strokes ahead in the third round and four in front entering the final round, Stricker closed with an even-par 70 for a sixstroke victory over defending champion and Wisconsin friend Jerry Kelly.