LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England \u2014 Nelly Korda is on the doorstep of entering\u2014officially at least\u2014the pantheon of women\u2019s golf\u2019s greats. At this week\u2019s AIG Women\u2019s 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).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Korda can add a Women\u2019s British to a trophy cabinet featuring the Women\u2019s PGA, two Chevron titles and this year\u2019s U.S. Women\u2019s Open trophy.<\/p>\n
The challenge, though, in adding the British is links golf, the style required this week at Royal Lytham.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say I have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with it, depending on the bounces that I get,\u201d said Korda, who won the first two women\u2019s majors this year at the Chevron and the U.S. Women\u2019s Open at Riviera. \u201cSometimes when like you feel like you’re hitting it good you kind of get really bad bounces.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a scheduling fatigue element to the Women\u2019s British Open. All five women\u2019s majors are played between April and July with the British as the finale. Korda and Haeran Ryu (Women\u2019s PGA and Evian Championship) have won the year\u2019s first four majors between them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Korda said. \u201cI always feel like maybe I’m a little bit more tired so the bad bounces get to me a little bit, mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Korda, who turned 28 on Tuesday, is also dealing with the soaring demands on her time as the biggest star in women\u2019s golf. Being the flagbearer for women\u2019s golf has been a steep learning curve. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think if you asked me two years ago, I maybe would’ve lied up here and said I’m fine with it,\u201d Korda said candidly. \u201cBut 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019t ready for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like in 2024 it was a lot at once and I had to go through last year to even embrace it,\u201d Korda said. \u201cBecause 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Korda also finished second to Lydia Ko at an epic Women\u2019s 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\u2019s British Open result to date.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be in contention at such an iconic venue \u2026 that’s why we get up early in the morning and grind on our game, mentally, physically,\u201d Korda said. \u201cSo to sniff it at that venue, too, obviously hurt a little bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now that she knows that, Korda has one mantra this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy attitude is, control what you can control. Sometimes with links golf you can kind of get pretty agitated with the bounces that you get,\u201d she said. \u201cYou 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England \u2014 Nelly Korda is on the doorstep of entering\u2014officially at least\u2014the pantheon of women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17338,44,17340,5318,3982,82,4313,17339],"class_list":["post-44012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-aig-womens-british-open","tag-golf","tag-like-at-evian-nelly-korda-has-chance-to-win-third-major-and-career-grand-slam-at-british","tag-lpga","tag-nelly-korda","tag-story","tag-women","tag-womens-british"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}