Nelly Korda's quest for LPGA history begins with 3-under 69 at Founders Cup; 6 back
The Nelly train rolled right along Thursday at the Cognizant Founders Cup, where the world No. 1 carded a 3-under 69 to keep herself in the mix to notch a record-breaking sixth straight title on the LPGA.
After the morning wave, Korda was four shots back of Madelene Sagstrom, in a tie for third. She finished the day six back as Rose Zhang fired a 9-under 63 in the afternoon.
Korda hasn’t played in two weeks, since she captured her second major at the Chevron Championship. Her five wins in a row have tied her for the LPGA record with Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez. She said that she’s had so much going on the past two weeks – from recovering post-major to hosting an AJGA event to attending the Met Gala on Monday – that she hasn’t had much time to consider the history-raising stakes.
“I have not thought about the streak at all, honestly,” she said. “I think that’s only going to do more harm for me than do good. The big thing for me is taking it a shot at a time and being present and in my own bubble. That’s what I’m focusing on. I’m not trying to think about the outside noise.
“Would it be amazing? Of course. But it’s still so far away, and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved so far.”
Still, Korda’s bid for six straight wins got off to a promising start at Upper Montclair Country Club in New Jersey, where she took advantage of three of the four par 5s and carded her 16th under-par score in her last 20 attempts.
Though Korda missed the cut at this event a year ago, she found the course more receptive this week after recent rainfall, missing just four fairways and four greens in the opening round.
“There’s still three more days,” she said. “I know the weather is not supposed to be great, and there’s just different factors that go into the rest of the tournament. So it’s definitely nice to get a good round in. Still a long, long ways away from Sunday.”
