BREAKING: Golf Fans Feel Excited as Nelly Korda Is on Edge With Five Majors Packed Tightly Ahead, Ready to Seize Her…

BREAKING: Golf Fans Feel Excited as Nelly Korda Is on Edge With Five Majors Packed Tightly Ahead, Ready to Seize Her Next Chance at the Career Grand Slam

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — Nelly Korda is on the doorstep of entering—officially at least—the pantheon of women’s golf’s greats. At this week’s AIG Women’s British Open, the World No. 1 has the chance to do two things with a victory: enter the LPGA Hall of Fame and earn the career Grand Slam (winning four different majors among the five).

Only seven women have completed the career slam: six in the four-major era and only Inbee Park in the five-major era. Karrie Webb is recognised by the LPGA as its only “super career Grand Slam” winner having claimed all five events sanctioned by the LPGA as majors.

Korda can add a Women’s British to a trophy cabinet featuring the Women’s PGA, two Chevron titles and this year’s U.S. Women’s Open trophy.

The challenge, though, in adding the British is links golf, the style required this week at Royal Lytham.

“I would say I have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with it, depending on the bounces that I get,” said Korda, who won the first two women’s majors this year at the Chevron and the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera. “Sometimes when like you feel like you’re hitting it good you kind of get really bad bounces.”

There’s also a scheduling fatigue element to the Women’s British Open. All five women’s majors are played between April and July with the British as the finale. Korda and Haeran Ryu (Women’s PGA and Evian Championship) have won the year’s first four majors between them.

“I feel like sometimes with it being the fifth major and coming off a lot of condensed majors in a packed schedule, I feel like you’re a little bit more on edge because you’ve been in these high-pressure moments throughout this middle part of the year,” Korda said. “I always feel like maybe I’m a little bit more tired so the bad bounces get to me a little bit, mentally.”

Korda, who turned 28 on Tuesday, is also dealing with the soaring demands on her time as the biggest star in women’s golf. Being the flagbearer for women’s golf has been a steep learning curve.

“I think if you asked me two years ago, I maybe would’ve lied up here and said I’m fine with it,” Korda said candidly. “But I think that I’m at a stage in my career and at a stage where I’m just going to be myself. If people don’t like it, that’s fine. If that inspires the next generation, that’s great; that’s what I would like.

“I had to learn that I’m going to go the direction I want and be very authentic. I feel like when I’m not it drains my battery a lot, of doing what I don’t want to do.”

David Cannon

In 2024, Korda became a multiple major winner with her second title and was returning to the Olympic stage, in Paris, having won the gold medal in Tokyo in 2021. Her profile soared, and Korda wasn’t ready for it.

“I feel like in 2024 it was a lot at once and I had to go through last year to even embrace it,” Korda said. “Because I know like athletes, this isn’t our forever thing. We’re going to be here and the next generation will come and they will be inspiring the next generation. I really have to embrace where I am and appreciate every moment.”

Korda also finished second to Lydia Ko at an epic Women’s British Open at St. Andrews. Korda led by two shots after a birdie at the 10th at the Old Course before a double bogey at the par-5 14th derailed her run. The T-2 was her best Women’s British Open result to date.

“To be in contention at such an iconic venue … that’s why we get up early in the morning and grind on our game, mentally, physically,” Korda said. “So to sniff it at that venue, too, obviously hurt a little bit.

“But before then I didn’t have the best [results] at the Open Championship. To be able to play in that weather and be in contention on a links golf course was definitely motivating, because I knew that I could contend.”

Now that she knows that, Korda has one mantra this week.

“My attitude is, control what you can control. Sometimes with links golf you can kind of get pretty agitated with the bounces that you get,” she said. “You hit a good shot, get a bad bounce, end up in a pot bunker, have to pitch out unfortunately and save par. [But] if I’m giving everything to my craft, my body, at the end of the day like the bounces are out of my hands.”