By ASSOCIATED PRESS
NORTH LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nelly Korda is on a roll not seen on the LPGA Tour in 16 years.
She won four of the first seven holes, largely making the rest of the final on Sunday, April 7, in the T-Mobile Match Play a formality in beating Leona Maguire 4 and 3 at Shadow Creek.
Lorena Ochoa in 2008 was the last player to win four consecutive starts. Korda, the world’s top-ranked player, will try to tie the record of five — set by Nancy Lopez in 1978 and matched by Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05 — in two weeks at the season’s first major, The Chevron Championship outside Houston.
Because Korda took seven weeks off after winning in January in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida, this victory was her third straight in a scheduled event. Four players share the record of four in a row, with Mickey Wright doing it twice.
Korda also became the first American since Kathy Whitworth in 1969 to win four of her first five starts in a season.
“I can’t even wrap my head around it,” Korda said “Such a whirlwind of the last three weeks. I just feel like I was just in go-mode constantly.”
This was the first head-to-head match-play singles event between Korda and Maguire, but they have experience against each other in similar settings at the Solheim Cup. The Irish player is 3-1 while representing Europe in team match-play events against Korda.
Korda birdied Nos. 5-7 for a 4-up lead. She was 5 up after 12, saw Maguire take 13 and 14 with pars, and ended the match with a par win on the par-4 15th.
“It’s always nice to get a lead, kind of like a cushion,” Korda said. “But it’s Leona. She’s such a fiery competitor. I knew when I lost those two holes in a row, 13 and 14, that I really needed to put my foot down to finish the match off.”
Korda earned $300,000 for her 12th career victory.
“You know you’re going to have to make birdies if you want to beat her,” Maguire said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t make enough today. Hats off to her. She is an incredible player and she is playing some great golf right now. All I could do is play my own game, and that wasn’t good enough today.”
