Nelly Korda says it would be a “special” feeling to win the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews in what has already been an extraordinary, history-making season for the American.
The 25-year-old took the golf world by storm when she triumphed in five straight events between January and April, a sequence that included the Chevron Championship, the second major title of her career.
Having tied Nancy Lopez and Annika Sörenstam for the most consecutive LPGA Tour wins, Korda went on to win the recent Mizuho Americas Open, which took her strike rate to an astonishing six in seven starts.
With some predicting that the world number one could match or even eclipse Mickey Wright’s fabled 13-win season in 1963, it is shaping up to be a momentous year for Korda especially if it includes a victory at the home of golf this summer.
Korda has been to St Andrews but she has never played the Old Course and would love nothing better than to win another major title when the AIG Women’s Open is held there from 21-25 August.
“For a golfer, there’s no greater honour than winning a major championship,” says Korda.
“There’s no greater feeling. To do it at St Andrews, to do it at the home of golf – with all that history – would be so, so special.
“I am so excited for St Andrews. I have never played the golf course before. When we played at Kingsbarns in my rookie year we stayed in St Andrews, and I got to walk by the 18th hole and over the Swilcan Bridge but that was more sightseeing.
“So I’m super excited how the week will turn out. We’re playing at the home of golf so I’m expecting it to be an amazing week. There’s so much history at St Andrews and I’m excited to be a part of that, to walk out on the Old Course and to compete out there.”
It will be the third time the AIG Women’s Open’s has been held at the Old Course, although Korda’s experience of links golf has been at other venues on the British coastline. She says she is growing accustomed to its unique challenges.
She added, “Every year I’m figuring it out more and more. I only get to play a links course a couple of times a year. But I enjoy it. It’s so much fun. It brings out such a creative side in golf, where we don’t get to do that too much otherwise. You get to put different clubs in your bag, you play with such different weather.
“I personally really enjoy it because it brings out a whole other side of my game.”
Korda has been attracting widespread praise from her peers. Far from being demoralised by her dominance, they say she is attracting welcome publicity to the sport and inspiring everyone to make improvements of their own.
England’s Georgia Hall says she is motivated by the prospect of a duel with Korda in the weeks ahead. “I don’t know what’s going to happen the next six months but if you’re coming down the stretch with her, I think, for me, it would be like, wow. I’d literally just want to win even more,” said Hall.
Winning the Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2018 was a dream come true for Hall, but it would mean even more if she were to repeat the feat at the home of golf. “That’s the only thing that would beat my win. I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance to play in another one at St Andrews after this. I don’t know when it would come around again.”
The AIG Women’s Open never stops playing, offering unrivalled competition on the course and unrivalled entertainment off the course. It takes place across the Old Course at the home of golf, St Andrews, Scotland from 21-25 August 2024.
