Tag: 2024 Cognizant Founders Cup

Nelly Korda opens strong at LPGA’s 2024 Cognizant Founders Cup with history on the line

Korda said she’s not thinking about chasing history.

ESPN tennis analyst Rennae Stubbs came out to the Cognizant Founders Cup on Thursday wearing a T-shirt that read “Everyone watches Nelly Korda” in large upper-case font.

It was a hopeful message from Stubbs, who believes not enough attention is being paid to Korda as she tries to become the first player in LPGA history to win six consecutive starts. Korda, who dazzled at the Met Gala earlier this week in New York City, opened with a 3-under 69 at Upper Montclair Country Club and sits four back of clubhouse leader Madelene Sagstrom.

LPGA legends Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez join Korda as the only players to win five consecutive starts.

“The fact that she’s going for six in a row and really, in my opinion, the sports media is not there enough,” Stubbs told ESPN+ reporter Chantel McCabe. “So we are trying to bring a little bit of press, some social … get people to actually understand that what Nelly Korda is on the precipice of actually doing is history-making in women’s golf and in women’s sports.”

FOUNDERS CUP: Photo gallery

Stubbs, who won four Grand Slam doubles titles and two mixed-doubles titles, then headed back out to watch LPGA rookie Gabriela Ruffels finish her round her own round of 69. Stubbs was coached by Ruffels’ father, Ray, early in her career.

Korda, the 25-year-old daughter of two world-class tennis players from the Czech Republic, notched four birdies in an opening round she deemed “solid.” She was especially pleased with her irons.

“This golf course is pretty intimidating off the tee,” she said of some wayward drives that got caught in the wind.

While Korda had a large support team at the Chevron Championship, the LPGA’s first major, this week it’s back to a small contingent. Her swing coach, Jamie Mulligan, is out with Patrick Cantlay at the Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her agent was in town briefly, but her parents didn’t make the trip at all to Cliffton, New Jersey.

Her physio, Kim Baughman, who keeps fruit in her backpack for Korda, who enjoyed a mid-round plum, is with her all week along with longtime caddie Jason McDede.

Korda said she’s not thinking about what’s on the line.

“I’m not trying to think about the outside noise,” she said. “Would it be amazing? Of course. But it’s still so far away and proud of what I’ve achieved so far.”

After winning her second career major at the Chevron, a worn down Korda withdrew from the next week’s stop in Los Angeles. She crashed on her couch for a bit, sleeping 9 to 10 hours at night, before gearing up to host her first AJGA event at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton. The Nelly Invitational is an elite all-girls event near Korda’s home that benefits a local rescue shelter. Korda brought out Marvel the rescue dog for juniors to enjoy before the tournament started.

Korda, the first golfer to attend the Met Gala since Tiger Woods, said actor Jaden Smith, the 25-year-old son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith, was the first person to say hello. A starstuck Korda, wearing an Oscar de la Renta gown and her first spray tan, sat close to Kylie Jenner and found herself in awe all night.

“Can confirm Chris Hemsworth is definitely a very good-looking person,” she said with a laugh.

Korda’s streak began back in January in her hometown at the LPGA Drive On where she beat former No. 1 Lydia Ko in a playoff, denying the Kiwi the final point needed to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame.

After a seven-week break, the winning resumed on the West Coast in March and hasn’t stopped. The first American to win five times in an LPGA season since Juli Inkster in 1999, Korda’s closing birdie at Upper Montclair gave her a seventh consecutive round in the 60s. Seventeen of her last 21 competitive rounds have been sub 70.

As for the “Everyone watches Nelly Korda” shirts, they’re a product of Togethxr, a media and commerce company founded by female athletes Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, Simone Manuel and Sue Bird.

The “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” merchandise, which found the spotlight during the women’s college basketball championship, includes a black hoodie, T-shirt and tote.

The Togethxr website says their products are more than a piece of clothing – “It’s a statement of enthusiasm and support for the unstoppable rise of women’s sports.”

With Korda on a run of historic proportions, one of the longest-running women’s professional sports associations in the world can only hope its own Caitlin Clark moment is coming.

Nelly Korda on the Met Gala and prepping for a run at LPGA history at Cognizant Founders Cup 2024

Back in her Nike apparel, hair bun and visor, she hopes her work inside the ropes is enough to move the tour forward.

Jaden Smith, the 25-year-old son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith, was the first person to say hello to Nelly Korda at the Met Gala on Monday evening. As she stood in line waiting to walk the green carpet – the dress code was “The Garden of Time” – Korda was mostly silent as she took in the scene. Wearing an Oscar de la Renta dress and her first spray tan, Korda was especially starstruck by Grammy-winning artist Shakira, who was also making her Met Gala debut.

“It was just a dream come true,” said Korda.

Life lately for the most dominant player in golf has been nothing but dreamy. Korda enters this week Cognizant Founders Cup in Clifton, New Jersey, with a chance to become the first player in LPGA history to win six consecutive starts.

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After capturing her fifth straight title at the Chevron Championship, she pulled out of the L.A. stop at Wilshire Country Club so that she could take two weeks to rest.

“First night, Sunday, I really didn’t sleep much at all,” said Korda. “The adrenaline, you actually feel really sick. You can’t sleep. The adrenaline wears off and the body starts to ache a little bit.”

After that, she was sleeping nine to 10 hours a night, which is standard when she’s at home in Florida. The mental break was just as important for a player who is leading just about every area of the tour statistically.

During the second week off, Korda hosted her first all-girls AJGA event, “The Nelly,” at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton. She brought out one of the rescue dogs from Satchels Last Resort for the Junior Am. Marvel was up for adoption, and she hopes he found a home.

“You’re your most genuine self when you see a puppy,” said Korda. “That really gave me a lot of positive energy.”

Although Korda, 25, is a 13-time winner on the LPGA and Oylmpic gold medalist, she doesn’t feel that far removed from the AJGA. When she saw one junior warming up with a TrackMan on the range, however, she realized how much things had changed.

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Korda flew up to New Jersey on Saturday and played Upper Montclair Country Club on Sunday and then on Monday again before the gala. She doesn’t have the best record in New Jersey, having missed the cut at this event last year as well as the KPMG Women’s PGA at Baltusrol.

“This golf course is tough,” said Korda. “It’s very, very narrow off the tee. The rough is very penalizing. And it’s wet this year, so it’s even worse.”

One player who is exceedingly comfortable this week is former No. 1 Jin Young Ko, who won last year’s Founders Cup in a playoff over 2022 champ Minjee Lee. Ko is a three-time winner of the Founders, though her other two victories were at different venues.

Ko suffered a shoulder injury earlier this year that took her away from the tour for a month and a half and recently tied for fourth at the JM Eagle LA Championship.

“I think my game is going well,” said Ko, who is back to playing (and sleeping) pain-free. “Like, I think I found good direction to (be) going.”

Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) are the only other players in LPGA history to win five consecutive starts.

Sorenstam said all she could see during a streak like that were fairways, greens and one-putts.

“If I hit a bad shot, it didn’t affect me,” she said. “It just kind of repelled.”

In her mind, Sorenstam knew plenty more good shots were coming.

Korda, the first American player to win five times in an LPGA season since Juli Inkster in 1999, said she hasn’t thought much at all about what it would mean to win six in a row. She’s kept too busy.

Earlier this week U.S. captain Stacy Lewis organized a Solheim Cup dinner and World Golf Hall of Fame members Pat Bradley, Beth Daniel and Meg Mallon were in attendance. Daniel and Bradley are being honored this week as LPGA pioneers.

“They are just so positive and so fun to talk to,” said Korda. “I just hope that when I’m in their position, girls my age will think that about me, too.”

Pat Bradley was a fixture in the winner’s circle on the LPGA Tour in the 1980s. She won 31 Tour events, including six major titles.

Bradley and Daniel are no strangers to monster seasons. Daniel won seven times in 1990, including a major, while Bradley won three of her six majors in 1986.

Bradley actually won the 1983 LPGA Chrysler-Plymouth Classic at Upper Montclair, which sits just 12 miles west of Manhatten.

“I mean, last night I said to Beth and Meg, how did I find this place? We didn’t have GPS; we didn’t have a phone,” said Bradley. “I must have stopped at 12 gas stations and said, ‘Joe, where is Upper Montclair Country Club?’ Because it was tucked back here so nicely.”

Perhaps one day Korda will be back at Upper Montclair, regaling players with stories about the time she “felt like a princess” at the Met Gala a few short days before she made LPGA history.

The stage is hers. Back in her Nike apparel, hair bun and visor, she hopes her work inside the ropes is enough to move the tour forward.

“At the end of the day, I think if you perform well in your sport, that’s what grabs people’s attention,” said Korda. “I’m not the type of person that tries to push anything or does anything I’m not really comfortable with … I hope that I just do it naturally.”

Ashley Shaw, 15, earns exemption into LPGA Cognizant Founders Cup

What a week for Ashley Shaw.

Ashley Shaw isn’t one to shy away from the moment. That much was apparent during a delightful pre-tournament press conference at the Cognizant Founders Cup. While all eyes fall on World No. 1 Nelly Korda this week, who looks to become the first player in LPGA history to win a sixth consecutive start, Shaw is enjoying her own bit of history as she tees it up in her first LPGA event.

The 15-year-old carded a 1-over 73 on the Cognizant tournament course, Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey, on Monday to lead a field of eight in The John Shippen Cognizant Cup. The two-stroke victory earned her an exemption into the LPGA event.

“It was a little bit chilly outside,” said Shaw, “but I could just feel it in the air, it was going to be a good day. No matter how it turned out I was going to have fun.”

Shaw, of Litchfield Park, Arizona, got started in LPGA-USGA Girls Golf at age 7 at The First Tee of Phoenix and has played in recent years on Steph Curry’s Underrated Golf.

“I won the inaugural year and last year I got top 3,” said Shaw, “so I am actually going to London in about two weeks to go represent the Underrated Tour as an ambassador for them.”

Through Underrated Golf, Shaw has also gotten to know Mariah Stackhouse, who was in the field on Monday and shot 75 to take a share of second place with Georgia Oboh. Because Shaw is an amateur and could not accept prize money, Stackhouse and Oboh each took home $7,250.

The John Shippen National Invitational is a series of competitions created to provide playing opportunities on the LPGA and PGA Tour for the nation’s top Black amateur and professional women and men golfers.

John Shippen Jr. was both the first American-born golf professional and the country’s first Black golf professional.

Ashley Shaw meets with the media ahead of the Cognizant Founders Cup. (Golfweek photo)

For a time, Stackhouse was the only Black player on the LPGA who had a full card. The 30-year-old Stanford grad is now competing on the Epson Tour, trying to claw her way back to the LPGA.

Shaw, who will have her mother on the bag this week, will be the only Black player in the field at Upper Montclair, but that won’t be a new to her.

“When I first started the game of golf my first few tournaments I played in, I didn’t quite feel like I belonged there,” said Shaw.

“It’s just kind of the way it goes when you’re the only one who looks like yourself out there. It was me, and I just had to persevere and I made it through. I think that’s something that I hope others can learn from me. Don’t let the situation you’re in kind of dictate what you’re going to continue to do.”