HERE'S A NEW FORCE IN WOMEN’S SPORTS: NELLY KORDA, WHO WILL NOT LOSE
She has won five straight LPGA Tour events, and unlike Caitlin Clark, who didn’t win a national championship at Iowa, Korda will blow up golf if she wins another title this weekend in Los Angeles
She travels as a drifter, often using a rideshare with her “hood up.” Nelly Korda doesn’t like attention but it’s arriving, with five consecutive victories in LPGA events, including her second major title near Houston. Some wrangling transpired about Caitlin Clark, who never won a national championship at Iowa. They can hush about Korda.
The only women in golf history who’ve equaled her feat are Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez. If she wins this weekend in Los Angeles, at Wilshire Country Club, a six-pack of triumphs is worthy of her sport’s greatest acclaim — and might begin to match the nationwide salutes received by Clark. We can debate about the importance of their sports, but just as Scottie Scheffler changed the look of the men’s game, Korda wins a tournament every damned time they play one. Nike handed Clark a $28 million deal for eight seasons. What’s next for Korda if she continues to dominate at 25?
“I want to be the best golfer in the world,” she said. “I want to be World No. 1, and I want to have the Grand Slam, and I want to work toward something that no one’s ever done before.”
She’s on her way, with ball-striking that ranks first or near the top of every category. Wearing a white shirt draped on her blue tights, with a blonde bun perched atop her Goldman Sachs cap, Korda knew dazzled parties were watching on NBC. Her name is familiar for a reason. Her father, Petr, won tennis’ Australian Open in 1998 was ranked as high globally as No. 2. Her older sister, Jessica, won six LPGA events. Her brother, Sebastian, rates 38th on the tennis circuit. It’s a generational family, from Bradenton, Fla., but Nelly is the one threatening to become the best women’s player ever.
Her survival in the Chevron Championship required a channeling of her anxiety. As Maja Stark drew within one stroke of Korda’s lead on the final hole, she waited. And waited. “I was definitely feeling it, the nerves settling in. This is everything I’ve wanted since I was a little girl,” she said. “I felt sick to my stomach.”
So what happened, as she closed out her latest victory? “I think there’s a key in the simplicity I have,” she said. “Honestly, a shot at a time. We pick a game plan and stay in our bubble. It’s been working for us. Golf can be overcomplicated. Now, I finally can breathe again. The back nine felt like the longest of my entire life.
“It’s been an amazing feeling these past couple weeks knowing 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.”
She means what she says. Korda has a model’s looks and likely will gain unwanted observation — her longtime boyfriend, for those who ask, is Andreas Athanasiou, who plays for the Chicago Blackhawks — but her ego doesn’t need mounds of publicity. As she once commented, “I’m not going to explain this well. It’s all a roller coaster, right? Professional, personal, emotional. But you can’t stay on top forever. And it’s so weird to say, but I enjoy the lows. Sometimes I’m like, ‘I just need a s—– week.’ Because I do love the grind.”
This is not one of those weeks. This is why Tiger Woods, with son Charlie, saw Korda at an event and said, “Nelly! Hey!” She said, “I was like, ‘Oh my God, he knows my name.’ He knows who I am! That’s crazy.” And this is why, before she suffered a blood clot in her left arm in 2022, she won four LPGA tournaments and her first major title. Sunday, she spoke of remaining at home, recovering from surgery and learning humility. “Because obviously, then I was just more scared for my health,” she said. “Competing was kind of on the back seat. I was not thinking about it. But I think all of the sad times and health scares I’ve gone through have made me who I am today.”
Who is she? Kevin Kisner called her the “Tiger Woods of the LPGA Tour.” Jordan Spieth told his father to “swing like Nelly.” Max Homa said, before giving Scheffler a run for the Masters title: “I don’t know how she does not win every week.”
She is. And she knows her path already sparks comparisons to Clark, whose mania created a massive growth in basketball. Women’s golf is not a prominent product on TV. With Korda, it might be. “I feel like we just need a stage. We need to be put on TV,” she said. “I feel like when it's a tape delay or anything like that, that hurts our game. Women's sports just needs a stage. If we have a stage, we can show up and perform and show people what we're all about.”
How sweet to share her emergence with Scheffler. “I mean, gosh, I don't think anyone can ever say anything bad about Scottie,” Korda said. “I love his morals, I love his attitude out there. I just love the way he goes about his business. He inspires so many around him, including myself. So yeah, obviously, as he even said, he wants to win every tournament he tees it up in. That's every girl that's out here competing, too. I think that you just have to go about your business. You can get lost in the articles, lost in the expectations, but I think if you just stick to your true self, I feel like you can live in your own bubble and enjoy it a lot more.”
As he awaits another victory in the RBC Heritage, after a Sunday delay, Scheffler couldn’t help but commend Korda. “I actually was checking the scores. I’m extremely happy for her and proud of her,” he said. “That’s some pretty special stuff.”
Time will kick in. She’ll know she’s a superstar, like Clark. “It's an inspiration. I’m inspiring the next generation and hoping it promotes the game,” she said. “Hopefully, we continue to climb up. I just hope I show people how much I enjoy being out here week in and week out competing against all the girls, practicing, and hopefully that drives more attention to us. Listen, I feel like for me, the way that I promote the game is just the way I am. I'm very true to myself. I'm never going to do something I'm not really comfortable with. Obviously, I love seeing all the kids and I love promoting the game. I mean, there’s nothing I enjoy more. I'm always going to stay true to myself.”
If she drops her hood, the Uber drivers will like her. Try it in Los Angeles, where the entertainment world is bored with the rapper and needs a new Nelly.
###
Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.