Nelly Korda captured her third Major title and returned to the top of the world rankings when she completed a wire-to-wire win in the Chevron Championship in Texas.
The Floridian (27) led by five shots with a round to play at Memorial Park in Houston and closed with a two-under 70 to win by five shots from China's Ruoning Yin and Thailand's Patty Tavatanakit on 18-under par.
"That was a hard weekend," said Korda, who won the KPMG Women's PGA in 2021 and the Chevron Championship for the first time two years ago.
"Honestly, having that big of a lead, it's not easy. It was definitely one of the hardest things I've had to do mentally.
"But I have an amazing support system, amazing family right behind me, an amazing caddy that's on the bag and just happy to get it done."
Korda had her struggles on the greens in the third round, and she was thrilled to produce a solid performance with the blade last night.
"Honestly, what I was telling myself was I really want to hoist this trophy, because I want to show the kids at home that it's okay to miss short putts and still win a major championship," she said.
"You know you're going to do it, you're going to make mistakes, but you have to mentally still be in it 100 per cent and that's really what I wanted to show.
"I wanted to show it to myself, and I wanted to show it to everyone also looking up to me."
It was Korda's 17th win as a professional, and the $1.35 million cheque took her career earnings to $18,578,276.
It was also a good day for Séamus Power and his German teammate Matti Schmid in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where they tied for 10th behind Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick at TPC Louisiana.
Power and Schmid closed with a five-under 67 in the foursomes to finish on 26-under and pocket $112,496 each as the Fitzpatricks birdied the 18th to shoot 71 and win by a shot from Norwegians Kristoffer Reitan and Kris Ventura and US duo Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer.
It was far from a walk in the park for the Fitzpatrick brothers, who had a four-shot lead starting the day.
They made three birdies in their first 11 holes to lead by just three shots from Reitan and Ventura on 33-under.
But they double bogeyed the 12th after driving behind a tree and dropped another shot at the 14th to find themselves tied for the lead with Smalley and Springer on 30-under.
Reitan and Ventura then eagled the par-five 18th to shoot 65 and set the target at 30-under before being joined in the clubhouse lead by Smalley and Springer, who shot 68.
The Fitzpatricks missed a good birdie chance at the 17th to edge in front, but got over the line with a hard-earned birdie at the 584-yard 18th.
Bunkered short of the green in two, they got up and down to win — Matt splashing out to a foot from 35 yards to give Alex the simplest of tap-ins for his maiden PGA Tour win.
They each earned $1,372,750 and received a two-year exemption until the end of 2028, which means Alex now joins his brother on the PGA Tour.
"Yeah, it was a struggle,” Matt admitted. "I was doing absolutely zero to help him, apart from the (par) putt that I made on 15 there.
"I wasn't really providing much support. He was fantastic on that back nine, as he was yesterday as well.
"I said, just give us a chance on the last and obviously to hit one shot like that (from the bunker), it was nice to give him the easy tap-in.”
Alex added: “It's amazing to be here with him, my mom and dad. Just a lot of hard work, and I can't believe that we’ve done it.”
Older brother Matt compared the feeling to his maiden Major win in 2022.
“It’s hard to describe,” the world number three said after his third PGA Tour win this season. “The US Open… it’s as good as that for sure."
Article Link: Korda cruises to Major number three as Fitzpatricks snatch Zurich Classic - News - Irish Golf Desk