It hasn’t been an easy season for Nelly Korda but on Sunday, she birdied her way back to the top of the world rankings with a tense victory over Lexi Thompson at the Pelican Championship.
Four back-nine birdies at the Pelican Golf Club led Korda to a final round 66 and a 14-under par total, a shot better than Thompson, who lost in a playoff last year to Korda, who scored her eighth LPGA Tour victory and her first come-from-behind win.
Alison Corpuz and Carlotta Ciganda were the overnight leaders at 10-under but both faded quickly on the front nine — leaving it to Thompson and Korda to battle for the title.
Thompson, who hasn’t won in three years, made the first move with four straight birdies starting at the fifth hole to get to 13-under and she led Korda by two shots at the turn.
Korda, playing a hole ahead of Thompson, turned the momentum in her direction with a birdie at 10. Thompson’s downfall started with bogey at 11 then at the par three 12th, her tee shot spun off the green and into the water right of the green. She suffered a second straight bogey while Korda made the two-shot swing with birdie at the 13th to get to 13-under and two shots clear of Thompson.
Thompson did bounce back with birdies at 13 and 14 but Korda answered her with birdies at 16 and 17 that gave her the comfort of a two-shot lead going into the tough 18th. Korda’s second went over the green and her chip shot left her with 20 feet for par. A two-putt bogey opened the door for Thompson to tie Korda at 14-under. But Thompson hooked her tee shot then from 182 yards out, her second skirted the water hazard and left her right of the green with a tough third. She hit a great pitch to two feet but her closing par left her a shot short of ending her winless streak.
Korda’s closing 64 was two shots better than Thompson and gave her back-to-back victories in this next-to-last event of the season.
“Honestly, amazing,” Korda said about her return to No. 1 in the world. “It’s been a tough year. I missed two cuts in Arkansas and Dallas, but I kept my head high and worked really hard. It feels really good to be on top.”
Sixty players will now head to Naples for the season finale — the CME Group Tour Championship — where the winner will take home $2 million.
Tommy Fleetwood Repeats At Sun City:
A costly bogey by Ryan Fox at the 72nd hole opened the door for Tommy Fleetwood’s victory at the Nedbank Challenge on Sunday at Sun City in South Africa.
Fleetwood won this event in 2019 but had to wait three years to defend his title at the Gary Player Country Club. He and Fox went into the final round three shots behind Rasmus Hojgaard and Thomas Detry. Play was suspended for nearly three hours with storms in the area. When play restarted, Fleetwood began to make his move. Detry and Hojgaard both began to fall apart, leaving it to Fox and Fleetwood to fight it out.
Fleetwood’s biggest move came at the par five 14th where he was pin-high in two in a waste bunker. He holed that shot for eagle to get to 11-under and stayed there the rest of the way. Fleetwood and Fox were tied on the 18th tee. Fox’s approach went wayward, left of the green and he failed to get up and down. Fleetwood’s routine par gave him a closing 67 to 68 for Fox and the winning 11-under total.
“It’s been a great week. I already had so many amazing memories of this place, such a great connection to it,” Fleetwood said, as his emotions ran over at the end. “It’s amazing we got four rounds in in the end and it was such a lovely feeling coming down the back nine with a chance. You draw on the good memories that you have round somewhere you’ve won. I felt good all day.”
On his bunker shot for eagle at 14, he said: “It wasn’t the best lie but I felt okay. It wasn’t a terrible place to be. I don’t know how far it would have gone past but it came out lovely and went in. That spark, those kind of things happen.”
Fleetwood had been ill earlier in the week and wasn’t sure he’d make it. “It was touch and go on Thursday morning (whether he would play), then Saturday when we were up early (to finish the second round) I felt like I had nothing in me. Really poorly again. The doctor here has been amazing. I just gave his little son the winning golf ball. Without him there was not a chance on Thursday I’d have played.”
Fox, the runner-up, had a chance to overtake Rory McIlroy in the Race To Dubai points standings with a win. “I played great and didn’t miss a shot until 18. I’d liked to have played it better and made Tommy work a little bit harder but it’s an incredibly tough golf course to play down the stretch,” Fox said afterward. “I felt like I played some really good shots and gave myself plenty of chances.
“I’m still really happy. I don’t think I’ve finished inside the top 50 here in three starts so if had given me second and closing the gap by a decent amount on Rory at the start of the week, I would have taken it.”
Fox now heads to Dubai where he’ll try and beat McIlroy at the DP World Tour Championship starting Thursday. “He’s the number one player in the world for a reason,” Fox said of McIlroy, “but I’ll just try to do the same thing – go out and beat the golf course then see what happens. I’m looking forward to it.”
