Nelly is world No. 1 again with Chevron win; Fitzpatricks triumph
HOUSTON—Nelly Korda won The Chevron Championship on Sunday with a performance worthy of her return to No. 1 in women’s golf.
Staked to a five-shot lead at the start, Korda was efficient as ever and no one could get closer than four shots all afternoon at the Memorial Park as she closed with a two-under-par 70 for a five-shot victory to capture the third major of her career.
The victory was her 17th on the LPGA and 21st worldwide and it was enough for the 27-year-old American star to move back to the top of the women’s world ranking for the first time since August.
Korda not only won wire-to-wire, but it was also never really a contest. She hit a 5-iron to five feet for birdie on her 16th hole of the opening round on Thursday to take the lead and never trailed again.
She celebrated in the best manner possible—a cannonball into the 4 1/2-foot pool built to the right of the 18th green to keep with the tradition at this major that dates to 1988, when the winner jumped into Poppie’s Pond at Mission Hills in the California desert.
“Feet first,” she said with a smile, dressed in the winner’s white robe. “I knew it was four feet, so I was expecting to hit the ground very fast.”
Drama-filled
Korda finished at 18-under 270, one short of Dottie Pepper’s 1999 tournament record at Mission Hills. Ruoning Yin (69) and Patty Tavatanakit (70) tied for second.
Meanwhile, in Avondale, Matt Fitzpatrick and younger brother Alex combined for a 1-under 71 in alternate-shot play to pull out a drama-filled, single-stroke victory in the Zurich Classic and usher the younger Fitzpatrick onto the PGA Tour through 2028.
After the Englishmen had lost a four-stroke lead on the back nine, Matt Fitzpatrick, the third-ranked player in the world, stuck a bunker shot on the par-5 18th a foot from the hole.
The 27-year-old Alex Fitzpatrick, a European tour regular, smiled and put his hand on his head as he went to mark the ball, knowing a chance to alter the course of his golf career would be in his own hands.
He made the putt, crouched and put one hand over his face, and then rose to embrace his older brother.
Watching from the clubhouse were the teams tied at 30-under: Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer; and Kristoffer Reitan and Kris Ventura. As the Fitzpatricks celebrated, their bids for a first PGA Tour victory ended.
