Nelly Korda’s hat-trick is proof Scottie Scheffler is not the only American dominating golf
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The golfer with the best swing in the world is rapidly compiling a CV to match. While Scottie Scheffler fell a few inches short of lifting a trio of PGA Tour titles on the trot in Texas on Sunday, two states across Nelly Korda achieved the elusive hat-trick.
The 25-year-old’s two-shot victory in the Ford Championship in Arizona saw her become the first LPGA Tour player in eight years to win three straight starts and secured the American’s status as world No 1.
If Scheffler is at prohibitive odds to don a second Green Jacket at next week’s Masters, then Korda must be an even bigger favourite to prevail at the Chevron Championship, the season’s first female major which follows immediately after Augusta.
At this current juncture - and if the game has reminded us of anything in these turbulent last few years then it is that in golf circumstances can radically change overnight - this pair bestride their respective fairways like colossi.
The sport is lucky to have them at the top, especially during an era besmirched by self-interest and sullied by outrageous cash grabs. Korda and Scheffler are great role models. Both are under spoken. Both are as gracious in defeat as in victory. Both wear Nike and play with TaylorMade. And both are fantastic to watch.
However, with respect to Scheffler, when it comes to the aesthetic, he is no match for Korda.
Granted, the scorecards do not include pictures and, indeed, instructors are waking up to the realisation that “The Scheffler Shuffle” - that unique motion, most notably with the driver, that features both of his feet jump and slightly slide backwards on impact - makes perfect sense from a technical viewpoint.
But, let’s be honest, it is not attractive. In contrast, Korda’s swing is the Mona Lisa of golf, a multi-layered action of simplistic beauty.
There is a reason that a wonderful headline-writer a couple of years ago felt inspired to coin her “Nelly The Elegant”. That was during Korda’s first rise to the summit of the rankings.
The daughter of Petr Korda, the former grand slam champion, and Regina Rajchrtová, another pro tennis player, and the sister of Jess, herself a garlanded golfer, and Seb, a quarter-finalist at last year’s Australian Open, Korda swept on to the scene and threatened to take complete control with that seemingly magical mix of artistry and audacity.
At this time, her long-time coach explained to Telegraph Sport what made her special. “She is definitely the best driver of the ball I have ever seen,” said David Whelan, the former Tour pro from Sunderland. “She’s so accurate. And as pretty as it all is, she has the will as well and is not frightened to win. Nelly is dominating and I don’t see it stopping any time soon.”
Except sport, and especially golf, is in the habit of making a mockery of projection. Illness and injuries stymied the staggering ascent. In early 2022 she was diagnosed with a blood clot in her arm and in those worrying moments before and after surgery, her career was clearly not the primary concern.
Blessedly, she returned unhindered, but, still young, the experience understandably took its toll. Korda never tumbled further than fifth in the world and the swing has remained never less than adorable.
But there has been only one top five in the majors since her glory at the 2021 US Women’s PGA and that year’s Olympics. And quite frankly, for someone of her majesty, that is a poor return.
She was plagued by back issues last year, a consequence of the torque in her swing. Korda is not the first to suffer pain in her lower back and it has served as a confirmation that what may look pleasing to the eye, is not always kindly on the spine.
She has refined her set-up and on the evidence of 2024 so far, is back to her very best. In fact, Whelan believes that the very best is yet to come.
“She has all that is required,” he told me. “I’m not sure anything in this game is beyond her.”
For her part, Korda is wary of the competition with her former self. She is more mature and feels stronger because of work in the gym, but that garlanded year will take some eclipsing. “It’s easy to compare for sure, but I think that the golf that I’m playing right now, hopefully it leads me to the year that I had in 2021 or better,” Korda said.
Majors are everything to the likes of Scheffler and Korda (although to the latter her Olympic defence in Paris in the summer is plainly on the same level). These runs in regular events of course have their own intrinsic value, but without the validation of the biggest tournaments of all, they are but the sizzle without the sausage.
For Korda, as for Scheffler, the challenge in these next few weeks is to transfer the award-winning brilliance from the wings to the centre of the stage.
