Nelly Korda reclaims golf’s No. 1 world ranking
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Nelly Korda has held the top spot multiple times previously, including as recently as the week of May 15.
PHOTO: AFP
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FLORIDA – Nelly Korda was unable to mount a Sunday charge at the latest Major championship, but the American’s tie for ninth place at the Evian Championship was enough to vault her back into the No. 1 spot in the Women’s World Golf Rankings on Monday.
Korda had held the top spot multiple times previously, including as recently as the week of May 15.
In the latest rankings that were released, the 25-year-old inched past South Korea’s Ko Jin-young, who in July set the record for the most career weeks at No. 1 – a mark that now stands at 163.
Ko, 28, tied for 20th in France, three shots behind Korda, who was coming off a win in the Aramco Team Series London event on the Ladies European Tour.
France’s Celine Boutier won the Evian Championship, clinching her first Major title with a six-shot victory over Canada’s Brooke Henderson.
While Korda did not win, it still has been a solid turnaround for the Florida native.
She had missed a pair of cuts and tied for 64th in the US Women’s Open in her previous three starts, while also missing a month to recover from an ailing back.
Her year has been a roller-coaster ride. It started off strongly when she finished fourth in the Tournament of Champions, second at the HSBC Women’s Championship in Singapore, and third at the Chevron Championship.
But luck ran out as she missed the cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the Cognizant Founders Cup, before her poor showing at the US Women’s Open.
In a previous interview with news website Essentially Sports, Korda said she believed that nothing should be taken for granted in competitive golf.
“The game of golf is just crazy. It’s like one day you’re just like ‘auto-ing’ top 10s and then the next day you don’t know how to make a cut, make a putt,” she explained.
“So you can have it and then you can lose it really fast.”
Also making a move this week was rookie star Rose Zhang, who climbed three spots to a career-best 32nd in the Rolex Rankings after also tying for ninth at the Evian Championship.
In her first five starts as an LPGA Tour member that included three Majors, the American, whose parents are both Chinese, has a win and three other top-10 finishes to offset a missed cut at the Dana Open.
Korda also leads the United States Solheim Cup standings, having secured an automatic spot along with Lilia Vu and Allisen Corpuz.
Zhang sits 17th in the standings, but is eligible for the team based on her win at the Mizuho Americas Open. The 20-year-old is considered a very strong candidate to be selected by captain Stacy Lewis if she does not earn an automatic spot. REUTERS
