Nelly Korda matches Scottie Scheffler thanks to outrageous Back 9, picks up 7th win of season

Nelly Korda had nothing going for her early on Sunday at The ANNIKA. She made three bogies on the front nine and made the turn at 9-under par, trailing Englishwoman Charley Hull by a pair. Something seemed off with Korda’s game, and a victory also seemed far out of reach.

And then she proved why she is the best player on the planet.

Korda rattled off five straight birdies on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th holes to soar past Hull and all the other contenders, which included Linn Grant, Weiwei Zhang, and young phenom Rose Zhang. She hit tantalizing approaches on the par-3 12th and the par-3 15th, both of which came to rest within five feet. But her most clutch putt of the day came on the par-4 16th, where she drained a 10-footer for par, thus keeping her two-shot advantage intact with two to play.

And yet, what is most impressive about Korda’s win is that she had not played for two months before this week, thanks to a neck injury.

“You should have felt the nerves that I was feeling on the back nine, and then just after taking some time off with an injury, it feels great to be back out here,” Korda said.

“Nothing like being in the hunt, the adrenaline feeling on the back nine, and being in contention. I love it so much.”

With the win, Korda matches Scottie Scheffler, who put together a Tiger Woods-like season with seven wins of his own. Korda also becomes the first player since 1990, when Beth Daniel did so, to win seven LPGA events in a given year.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.