The pathway followed this year by golfers Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler shares a common direction for the world’s No. 1 female and male players.
Both players started the 2024 season with rocket-like launches.
Scheffler won five times on the PGA Tour before the U.S. Open, a feat last accomplished by Tom Watson in 1980.
Meanwhile, Korda did something rarely done—winning five consecutive tournaments and matching the winning streaks of past champions and Hall of Famers Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam.
In addition, both Scheffler and Korda won the first major championship of the year at The Masters and The Chevron Championship.
But then the play for each—most notably for Korda—dipped.
In her next three starts, the 26-year-old missed 36-hole cuts, including two major championships: the Women’s U.S. Open and the KPMG PGA Championship.
The 26-year-old’s early season momentum stopped abruptly, fueling questions about how such a falloff in performance could happen, compared to her stellar play earlier in the season.
In her most recent event—the Amundi Evian Championship, another major event—Korda made the cut but wasn’t a factor, tying for 26th.
The Florida native is competing in this week’s women’s golf championship at the Summer Olympics. Four years ago, she won the gold medal at the Tokyo Games. Now, Korda is seeking to repeat that success in Paris.
Korda’s first-round play started slowly—three-over-par for the first eight holes—but she rallied with three birdies over the final 11 holes for a score of even-par 72.
Her position leaves her seven shots behind France’s Celine Boutier, who scored a seven-under-par 65 with just one bogey on her scorecard. Eleven other players are situated between Korda and Boutier.
It’s been rightly said that big-time championships aren’t won during the first 18 holes but can be lost through sloppy or indifferent play during an opening round. Korda has kept herself in the mix but will need to play far better to secure a medal.
Korda is seeking to do what Scheffler did just one week earlier when claiming the gold medal with an awe-inspiring closing round of 62—highlighted by a magnificent inward half score of 29.
Scheffler had come into the Olympics following lackluster efforts at two final men’s major events—the U.S. Open and Open Championship—with tied for 41st and tied for seventh finishes, respectively. The sight of him four-putting the 9th hole during the final round at Troon was difficult to watch.
But the Texan changed the storyline with a spectacular final round, putting to rest the whispers on whether the two major triumphs of Xander Schauffele were about to surpass him for Player-of-the-Year honors.
Korda attributed her play from the first round to inconsistent green speeds.
“The greens were just so like completely different, just from the practice green to the golf course, they were a lot slower. I feel like they were almost a foot slower from what I felt personally. It was very much a pace thing. I actually came up really short on No. 1. Short on No. 2. Very short on No. 3. So it was just a pace thing,” she said after the opening round in Paris.
Getting off to such a very slow start could have created a spiraling concern, but Korda demonstrated a steely resolve that may be the catalyst in serving her well with three rounds to play.
“I just got into the mindset of one shot at a time,” Korda said.
The gold medal triumph in Tokyo served as the launching pad for Korda’s career. Her arrival in Paris is now about reclaiming the momentum she created earlier this year when winning was a consistent outcome.
“I was very lucky with having two parents that played professional tennis, and also my sister being a professional golfer. Burnouts are very easy,” Korda said on Aug. 7. “It’s easy to just push through it and just tell yourself, you know, just grind it out.”
Korda has attempted the delicate balancing act of knowing how much to play to sustain her sharpness.
“But as important as it is to grind it out, it’s important to put your clubs away and just be a regular human being,” she said. “For me, it was like I finally realized that everything that I did at the start of the year, I kind of enjoyed it a little bit more with my family and realized how big of an accomplishment that is; and that life and golf and everything is such a roller coaster, that it’s good to step away and appreciate the whole journey.”
With 54 holes to play, Korda realizes the need to follow up on the play she showed during the final nine holes of her first round.
The energy and vibe of the spectators are noticeable and something Korda sees as helping her continue to plug along.
“It’s amazing. We were actually talking that it would be so much fun to have a Solheim Cup out here. I know the Ryder Cup was amazing, but the atmosphere was insane. I can’t even imagine what it is like within Celine’s (Boutier) group. I’ve heard a couple of the roars, and it’s been such an amazing experience,” Korda told reporters after the Aug. 7 opening round.
Korda’s desire to be in the mixture during the Aug. 10 final round will need the kind of consistent play she showed when winning so thoroughly earlier in the year.
When one is among a sport’s premier players—the constant drumbeat in pushing matters ever more forward is a never-ending reality. That’s the reality that Korda faces whenever she tees it up.
Korda hasn’t tasted victory since the Mizuho Americas Open in New Jersey in mid-May. The stakes at Le Golf National will indicate whether she is ready for the test ahead.
The Chinese are famous for saying that the longest journey begins with the first step. Such a journey will need to happen in the Aug. 8 second round.
Calling Korda.
The connection had best be front and center if a return to the medal podium is on her agenda.
