Nelly Korda wins on Chevron and ties LPGA mark with fifth straight win

THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Nelly Korda etched her name into the LPGA Tour record books on Sunday, winning her record-tying fifth straight tournament with a two-stroke victory at the Chevron Championship for her second major title.

Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA Championship events. Her previous major win was in 2021 at the Women's PGA Championship.

Top-ranked Korda shot a 3-under 69 in the final to edge out Sweden's Maja Stark, who birdied her last two holes to pull within one. Korda remained aggressive on the par-5 18th, easily clearing the lake in front of the green and making an easy up-and-down birdie for a two-shot win.

Korda had a four-day total of 12-under 275 at Carlton Woods.

“I felt like this was the longest line of defense in my entire life… but I'm happy with the win,” Korda told NBC after the round.

“That's all I've always wanted since I was a little girl, to lift that big trophy.”

Korda entered the final round one shot off the lead after completing the final seven holes of a weather-delayed third round early Sunday morning on an unseasonably windy and cold day.

She birdied two of her first four holes to take the lead. Lauren Coughlin birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to get within two strokes, but bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes put her four behind her. She finished 68th in the final round and tied for third with Canadian Brooke Henderson.

Korda nearly made the par-3 17th, as her putt hit the hole and bounced in the air before landing 10 feet away. She settled for par to maintain her two-shot lead.

Korda wowed the large crowd that followed her all day by cutting the wind for birdie on the par-4 10th hole to take a four-stroke lead. The 25-year-old raised her club above her head with one hand and pumped her fist after the ball rolled into the hole.

South Korea's Haeran Ryu shot a bogey-free 67 to enter the final round ahead of Korda by one. But the 2023 rookie bogeyed the first two holes of the fourth round to fall out of the lead. She closed with a 74 and placed fifth.

Henderson tied with Korda in second place to start the final round after scoring 64 points in the third round to set a record in the tournament since she moved from Mission Hills, California, to Texas last year. But the Canadian, who has 13 LPGA Championship wins with two majors, also faltered early in the final round, with a bogey and a double bogey on the first four holes.

Korda took home $1.2 million from a $7.9 million purse, a significant increase from last year's $5.2 million purse. This brings her seasonal income to $2,424,216 and her career earnings to $11,361,489.

Winners have been jumping into Poppie's Pond from the 18th green in Mission Hills since 1988, and Korda became the second to do so in Texas by jumping from a small jetty into the brown water. World number two Lilia Fu was the first to jump into the pool after her win last season. She withdrew from this year's tournament before the first round after suffering “severe discomfort” in her back during warm-ups.

Eighteen-year-old amateur Jasmine Ko provided an unexpected highlight on the eighteenth hole. Her shot bounced off the billboard into the water and was back in play.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.