BELLEAIR, Fla. — The emotion on Nelly Korda’s face said it all. To win again on the LPGA and once again rise to No. 1 in the world hit differently this time. So much has transpired since the the last time she edged Lexi Thompson to hoist a trophy at the Pelican LPGA Championship.
“We’re just very fortunate she’s alive,” said her father Petr.
The blood clot that required surgery earlier this year and took her out of the game for months was a scary time for the entire Korda family.
“For me, the uncertainty of that was the scariest,” said Nelly. “As a golfer I feel like my life is planned out. I know where I’m going next, I know what to do next, or you would hope to know, but just getting hit with something like this and just not knowing what to do or what my next step was.”
Korda became the first person on the LPGA this season to successfully defend a title, closing with a 64 to finish 14 under in the weather-shortened 54-hole event. The 24-year-old now has eight career LPGA titles and $7,455,977 in her career. She also won an LET event in Spain earlier this season.
Korda began the day two strokes back of rookie Allisen Corpuz. Three players held a two-stroke lead throughout the course of the final round, including Carlota Ciganda, Thompson and Korda.
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As Thompson spoke with the media after the round, several steps away, Megan Khang and Ally Ewing soaked Korda in a champagne shower. Last year, a slew of short missed putts cost Thompson the victory here, but this year’s close call felt decidedly different. Thompson rebounded from back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 11-12 with a pair of birdies and closed with a 66. She was still smiling when it was over, even though she came up one stroke short.
“I think in previous years if that would’ve happened, I would’ve let it get to me,” said Thompson, “or even after hitting it in the water (on No. 12), I could have let that get to me.
“I was like, all right, snap out of it. Yeah, you’re not happy right now, but getting even more upset isn’t going to do me any good.”
Thompson will once again have older brother Nicholas on the bag at next week’s CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon, a place she loves and is a past champion. Later in the year, Thompson and Korda will team up at Tiburon as the first all-female team at the QBE Shootout.
The LPGA’s penultimate event is hardly just about who wins, of course, with tour cards and CME qualifying on the line. Only 60 players can qualify for the season-ending event, where the winner earns a record $2 million paycheck. After a week of play in Belleair, the field didn’t change.
Day 1 leader Maria Fassi certainly gave it a run after opening with a career-best 62. Bogeys on the last two holes, however, dropped her into a share of seventh. All she needed was a par on the last hole to make the CME field.
Lydia Ko heads to the CME, where she won in 2014, with a one-point lead in the Rolex Player of the Year standings over Minjee Lee and a sizable lead in the Vare Trophy race for low scoring.
Ko tied for 26th at the Pelican.
“I don’t think any part of my game was like very sharp this week,” she said, “so I just don’t think I ever got off to like a good momentum.”
Morgane Metraux came into Pelican ranked 101st on the CME points list. The top 100 players retain full status for 2023. The former Florida State player rose to the occasion in a mighty way, closing with a 64 to finish a career-best T-4 to keep her card and avoid Q-Series.
“I was obviously super excited to get my card last year,” said Metraux, an Epson Tour graduate, “and I probably started the year — well, I had a good first event because I had no expectations.
“After that I was just thinking about it a little bit and thinking, ‘Oh, my God this is the best tour in the world; do I really belong here?’ ”
After Sunday, there is no doubt.
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